1 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-eighth session (24
November to 3 December 2010), adopted, by resolution MSC.310(88), amendments to the International Convention for
Safe Containers, 1972 (CSC 1972), to include new specifications regarding Safety
Approval Plates, describing the validity of, and elements to be included in,
approved examination programmes.
2 Prior to the creation of the Global ACEP Database, authorities and
industry stakeholders had no means to check the validity of an Approved Continuous
Examination Programme (ACEP) and no way of knowing whether the container
owner/operator to whom it was initially delivered continued to meet the requirements
of the programme. This lack of transparency gave rise to safety and compliance
concerns that the Global ACEP Database and these Instructions intend to address.
3 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its ninety-sixth session (11 to 20
May 2016), having considered the proposal by the Sub-Committee on Carriage of
Cargoes and Containers, at its second session, approved the Instructions for use and
information concerning the Global ACEP Database, as set out in the annex.
4 Member States are invited to bring these Instructions to the attention
of all parties concerned.