The Annex of this document has been consolidated into SOLAS
RECALLING Article 28(b) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization
concerning the functions of the Committee,
RECALLING ALSO article VIII(b) of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea (SOLAS), 1974 ("the Convention"), concerning the amendment procedure applicable to
the annex to the Convention, other than to the provisions of chapter I,
RECOGNIZING the need to provide a mandatory framework for ships operating in polar waters
due to the additional demands on ships, their systems and operation, which go beyond the
existing requirements of the Convention, and other relevant binding IMO instruments,
NOTING resolution MSC.385(94), by which the Committee adopted the International Code for
Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) with respect to its provisions for safety,
NOTING ALSO that the Marine Environment Protection Committee, at its sixty-seventh
session, approved with a view to adoption, at its sixty-eighth session, amendments to
the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as
modified by the Protocol of 1978, and that it will also consider for adoption the
environmental protection provisions of the Polar Code,
NOTING FURTHER the proposed amendments to the Convention to make use of the safety
provisions of the Polar Code mandatory,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its ninety-fourth session, amendments to the Convention, proposed
and circulated in accordance with article VIII(b)(i) thereof,
1 ADOPTS, in accordance with article VIII(b)(iv) of the Convention, amendments to the
Convention, the text of which is set out in the annex to the present resolution;
2 DETERMINES, in accordance with article VIII(b)(vi)(2)(bb) of the Convention, that the
said amendments shall be deemed to have been accepted on 1 July 2016, unless, prior to
that date, more than one third of the Contracting Governments to the Convention or
Contracting Governments the combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less than
50% of the gross tonnage of the world's merchant fleet, have notified to the
Secretary-General of the Organization their objections to the amendments;
3 INVITES SOLAS Contracting Governments to note that, in accordance with article
VIII(b)(vii)(2) of the Convention, the amendments shall enter into force on 1 January
2017 upon their acceptance in accordance with paragraph 2 above;
4 REQUESTS the Secretary-General, for the purposes of article VIII(b)(v) of the
Convention, to transmit certified copies of the present resolution and the text of the
amendments contained in the annex to all Contracting Governments to the Convention;
5 ALSO REQUESTS the Secretary-General to transmit copies of this resolution and its annex
to Members of the Organization which are not Contracting Governments to the
Convention.