INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION

E
IMO

MARITIME SAFETY COMMITTEE MSC 80/3/6

80th session 16 February 2005
Agenda item 3 Original: ENGLISH

CONSIDERATION AND ADOPTION OF AMENDMENTS TO MANDATORY

INSTRUMENTS

Procedures for amendments to the 1966 Load Lines Convention

Note by the Chairman

SUMMARY
Executive summary: The Committee is hereby informed of the unanimous acceptance
procedure for the proposed amendments to the 1966 Load Lines
Convention, specified in article 29(2) of the Convention
Action to be taken: Paragraph 10
Related document: MSC 79/23/Add.1, annex 6

Background

1 The Committee will recall that, at its seventy-ninth session, it adopted the proposed
amendments to the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966, and approved an associated
draft Assembly resolution (MSC 79/23, paragraph 3.101 and MSC 79/23/Add.1, annex 6) for
subsequent adoption by the twenty-fourth session of the Assembly in accordance with
article 29(3) of the 1966 Load Lines Convention. These amendments constitute modifications to
the certificates, issued under the Convention, whereby a new wording regarding the date of
completion of survey is included in the certificates.

2 At that time, the Chairman referred to other procedures for amendments specified in
article 29 of the 1966 Load Lines Convention and offered to consider the issue in detail and
submit appropriate proposals to this session for consideration.

3 In this context, it should be mentioned that article 29 (Amendments) of the 1966 Load
Lines Convention specifies that the Convention may be amended, upon the proposal from a
Contracting Government, by:

.1 amendments by unanimous acceptance (article 29(2) of the Convention);

.2 amendments after consideration in the Organization (article 29(3) of the

Convention; and

.3 amendments by a conference (article 29(4) of the Convention).

For reasons of economy, this document is printed in a limited number. Delegates are
kindly asked to bring their copies to meetings and not to request additional copies.
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4 In view of the fact that the procedure referred to in paragraph 3.2 above has already been
applied by MSC 79 when adopting the aforementioned amendments and that the procedure for
adoption of an amendment by a conference, referred to in paragraph 3.3 above, would entail
arrangements for holding the Conference, this document addresses only the procedure for
amendments by unanimous acceptance.

Amendment by unanimous acceptance

5 The unanimous acceptance procedure is specified in article 29(2) of the Convention as

follows:

“(2) Amendment by unanimous acceptance:

(a) Upon the request of a Contracting Government, any amendment proposed

by it to the present Convention shall be communicated by the Organization
with a view to unanimous acceptance.

(b) Any such amendment shall enter into force twelve months after the date of
its acceptance by all Contracting Governments unless an earlier date is
agreed upon. A Contracting Government which does not communicate its
acceptance or rejection of the amendment to the Organization within
three years of its first communication by the latter shall be deemed to
have accepted the amendment.

(c) Any proposed amendment shall be deemed to be rejected if it is not

accepted under subparagraph (b) within three years after it has been
communicated to all Contracting Governments by the Organization”.

6 In this respect, it should be borne in mind that subparagraph (e) of article 29(3) of the
Convention (amendment after consideration in the Organization, i.e. adoption by the MSC and
the Assembly as referred to in paragraph 3.2 above) states that:

“(e) Nothing in the paragraph shall prevent the Contracting Government which first
proposed action under this paragraph on an amendment to the present Convention
from taking at any time such alternative action as it deems desirable in
accordance with paragraph (2) or (4) of this article.”

7 It follows from the above, that in accordance with article 29(3)(e) of the Convention, one
or more Contracting Governments may submit a formal request to the Secretary-General to
circulate the aforementioned proposed amendment to all Contracting Governments for
unanimous acceptance. In other words, it can be concluded that the procedures specified in
articles 29(2) and 29(3) can be applied one after another or applied simultaneously.

8 In view of the above, the following can be considered at the twenty-fourth session of the
Assembly:

.1 the Assembly adopts the proposed amendments, in accordance with article 29(3)
of the Convention as proposed by MSC 79 and if, in the future, the proposed
amendments are requested to be circulated for unanimous acceptance in
accordance with article 29(2) of the Convention, and are accepted within three
years, a circular letter could be issued by the Secretary-General informing
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Contracting Governments that, in view of the entry into force of the amendments,
no further action, as invited by the Assembly resolution, is necessary; however,

.2 if, during Assembly, a Contracting Government advises of its intention to request,

or requests, the Secretary-General to circulate the proposed amendments for
unanimous acceptance and there is no State which, at least at that stage, rejects or
expresses its intention to reject the amendments, the Assembly may proceed with
the adoption of the proposed amendments in accordance with article 29(3) of the
Convention as proposed by MSC 79 and, when adopting the resolution, it may
include therein a paragraph to the effect that the Assembly resolves that, if the
amendments enter into force by the unanimous acceptance, the resolution on the
adoption becomes obsolete.

9 In this context, it should be mentioned that MSC 79 adopted amendments to the 1988
LL Protocol similar to the aforementioned amendments (which, as indicated in paragraph 1
above, constitute modifications to the certificates only). Therefore, following the entry into force
of the amendments to the 1988 LL Protocol, the load line certificates, as modified, can, in
accordance with resolution A.883(21) on Global and uniform implementation of the harmonized
system of survey and certification (HSSC), be issued by the Contracting Governments to the
1966 Load Lines Convention, during the period prior to the entry into force of the amendments to
the Convention. This is because, as stated in operative paragraph 2(b) of resolution A.883(21),
States which are Contracting Governments to the 1966 Load Lines Convention, but not Parties to
the 1988 LL Protocol may issue certificates in the form prescribed by the 1988 LL Protocol as
modified by annex 2 to the resolution. The resolution also invites port States, whether or not
they are Parties to the 1988 LL Protocol, to accept the certificates so issued as equivalent to the
certificates issued under the Load Lines Convention in force for those States.

Action requested of the Committee

10 The Committee is invited to note the above information and take action as appropriate.

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