Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
FROM A VOLUNTARY SELF-ASSESSMENT TO A MANDATORY AUDIT SCHEME: MONITORING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF IMO INSTRUMENTS
Henning Jessen* and Ling Zhu †
This article introduces the evolution and current status of the Member State Audit Scheme of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) which serves to evaluate the regulatory performance of the IMO Members. In view of parallel legal developments in air transport as governed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the article highlights comparable challenges and differing approaches in Member State auditing methodology as applied by both the ICAO and the IMO. While a continuous monitoring approach (as implemented in civil aviation) would also be desirable for maritime transport, continuous monitoring of flag states already exists in international shipping as demonstrated, eg by internationally coordinated Port State Control (PSC) mechanisms. As a result and as promoted by the Code on the Implementation of IMO Instruments (III Code), the article argues for strengthening the integration of existing PSC data and focusing even more on the ratification and domestic enforcement of international rules.
General introduction—the missions of the ICAO and the IMO
Maritime transport of passengers and/or goods and international civil aviation are generally considered to represent two different “technical” worlds, governed by two completely distinct legal regimes. However, there are also some remarkable similarities. Both regimes are globally governed by specialised agencies of the United Nations (UN), namely the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)1 and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).2 Both the ICAO and the IMO act as global
* Institute for Maritime Law and the Law of the Sea, Faculty of Law, University of Hamburg, Germany.
† Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies, Faculty of Business, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
The research behind this paper is financially supported by the Germany/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme 2013/14 (Project Reference: G-PolyU503/13 and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD): PPP Hong Kong).
1. With its headquarters situated in Montréal, the ICAO was created in 1944 upon the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention, 7 December 1944, in force 4 April 1947) 15 UNTS 295. The ICAO works with the Convention’s 191 Member States and other global aviation organisations to develop international Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs), which States reference when developing their legally enforceable national civil aviation regulations. See www.icao.int/about-icao/Pages/default.aspx.
2. Situated in London, the IMO (formerly IMCO) was established by a Convention in 1948 to deal with technical matters affecting shipping in international trade. It currently has 171 Member States and three Associate Members, see generally: www.imo.org/en/About/Pages/Default.aspx.
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