RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization
concerning the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations and guidelines
concerning maritime safety, the prevention and control of marine pollution from
ships and other matters concerning the effect of shipping on the marine environment,
RECALLING ALSO that the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), at its ninety-fourth
session, by resolution MSC.385(94), and the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), at
its sixty-eighth session, by resolution MEPC.264(68), adopted the International Code for Ships Operating in
Polar Waters (Polar Code), which entered into force on 1
January 2017,
RECOGNIZING that the Polar Code was developed to supplement existing IMO instruments
in order to increase the safety of ships' operation and mitigate the impact on
people and environment in the remote, vulnerable and potentially harsh polar waters,
NOTING that the Polar Code sets out a mandatory framework of
safety standards for ships certified under the SOLAS
Convention operating in polar waters to mitigate the additional risks to ships,
their systems and operation, as well as their personnel,
RECOGNIZING that resolution MSC.385(94) invites SOLAS Contracting Governments to consider the
voluntary application of the Polar Code, as far as practicable, to ships not covered by the Code and
operating in polar waters,
RECOGNIZING ALSO that accident and incident data submitted to the Organization since
2010 continue to demonstrate that ships not certified under the SOLAS
Convention, especially fishing vessels and yachts, are operating with increasing
frequency in polar waters and are vulnerable to the same risks as ships certified
under the SOLAS Convention, including accidents or other incidents potentially
causing loss of life and injury, as well as loss or damage to the vessels concerned,
NOTING the progress that has been made in applying the additional safety measures of
the Polar Code to ships not certified under the SOLAS
Convention,
BEING CONVINCED, therefore, of the desirability that ships not certified under the
SOLAS Convention operating in polar waters, and those on board, achieve
the same level of safety as ships certified under the SOLAS
Convention,
CONSIDERING IT DESIRABLE that Member States encourage the application of safety
measures set out in the Polar Code to ships not certified under the
SOLAS Convention operating in polar waters,
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendations made by the Maritime Safety Committee at its
101st session,
1 URGES Member States, on a voluntary basis, to implement the safety measures of the
Polar Code, as far as practicable, for ships not certified
under the SOLAS Convention operating in polar waters, including fishing vessels of
24 metres in length and above and pleasure yachts of 300 gross tonnage and above not
engaged in trade;
2 ALSO URGES Member States to continue contributing to the work underway to improve
the safety of ships not covered by the Polar Code.