International Maritime Organization

Structure

The Assembly, meeting every 2 years, is the highest governing body of the IMO. The Council is the executive organ of the IMO. It consists of 40 states, which are elected for 2-year periods. There are three groups: 10 states from those with the largest interest in providing shipping services, 10 other states with the largest interest in international seaborne trade, and 20 others who have special interests in maritime transport and whose election to the Council will ensure representation of all major geographic areas.

The IMO is a technical organization, and most of its work is carried out in a number of committees and subcommittees. The committees of IMO are the Maritime Safety Committee, the Marine Environment Protection Committee, the Legal Committee, the Technical Co-operation Committee, and the Facilitation Committee.

There are nine subcommittees reporting to the Maritime Safety Committee or the Marine Environment Protection Committee, whose titles are indicative of their subjects:

• 1.
  Safety of Navigation
• 2.
  Radio Communication and Search and Rescue
• 3.
  Training and Watch-Keeping
• 4.
  Carriage of Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers
• 5.
  Ship Design and Equipment
• 6.
  Fire Protection
• 7.
  Stability and Load Lines and Fishing Vessel Safety
• 8.
  Flag State Implementation
• 9.
  Bulk Liquids and Gases

Processes at the IMO

Individual governments or organizations start the processes at the IMO. The IMO provides the place and means for turning an idea into an international agreement. Individual governments then agree to be bound by that agreement and enforce it through their own legislation. Decisions are taken by consensus. When a consensus is not possible, decision is by a majority vote of the member-states present at the particular meeting.

The initial work on a convention is done by a committee or a subcommittee. A draft instrument is then prepared and submitted to a conference to which delegations from all states within the UN system—including states that may not be IMO members—are invited. The conference then adopts a final text, which is submitted to governments for ratification.

An instrument comes into force after the fulfillment of certain requirements, which always includes ratification by a certain number of countries representing a certain part of the world merchant fleet.

IMO as a Standard-Setting Organization

In the 1950s, each shipping nation had its own maritime laws. There were comparatively few international treaties, and those that existed were not accepted or implemented by all maritime states. The result was that standards and requirements varied considerably and were sometimes even contradictory.

The standards and conventions developed by IMO have transformed this position. The IMO is essentially a standard-setting organization. The IMO Convention on the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization states on its website that its principal objective is “the promotion of co-operation among governments in the field of governmental regulation and practices relating to technical (and related administrative and legal) matters of all kinds affecting shipping engaged in international trade.”

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