1 By resolution A.519(13) the Maritime Safety
Committee was requested by the 1983 Assembly to finalize the Standards
for devices to prevent the passage of flame into cargo tanks, the
Committee was developing at the time, prior to the coming into force
of the 1981 SOLAS amendments.
2 The Committee, at its forty-ninth session, (2
to 6 April 1984), adopted the standards to developed, which were attached
to MSC/Circ.373.
3 The Committee agreed that the inert gas system
was to be considered as equivalent to devices to prevent the passage
of flame into cargo tanks only if vent outlets on ships fitted with
inert gas systems were at least fitted with devices to prevent the
passage of flame into cargo tanks, but that these devices need not
comply with the test requirement for endurance burning. The Committee
noted that, in the standards, emphasis was laid on compliance with
test specifications rather than on construction. It was then understood
that, in the case of a tanker fitted with an inert gas system, the
provision of flashback would suffice and a well-designed and fitted
flame screen could meet this criterion. In summary, if a flame screen
met the standards, it would be accepted.
4 The Committee, at its fifty-fifth session, (11
to 22 April 1988), adopted amendments to the standards contained in
MSC/Circ.373 and disseminated them as MSC/Circ.373/Rev.1.
5 The Committee, at its sixty-fourth session,
(5 to 9 December 1994), recognizing the necessity to clarify some
provisions in the revised standards, adopted further amendments thereto,
which are incorporated in the test set out in the annex.
6 Member Governments are invited to give effect
to the revised standards in conjunction with the application of regulation II-2/59 of the 1974 SOLAS Convention,
as amended.