1.1.1. ‘International Safety Management (ISM) Code’ means the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention as adopted by the Assembly, as may be amended by the organisation.

1.1.2. ‘Company’ means the owner of the ship or any other organisation or person such as the manager or the bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the ship from the shipowner and who on assuming such responsibility has agreed to take over all the duties and responsibility imposed by the Code.

1.1.3. ‘Administration’ means the government of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly.

1.1.4. ‘Safety management system’ means a structured and documented system enabling company personnel to implement effectively the company safety and environmental protection policy.

1.1.5. ‘Document of Compliance’ means a document issued to a company which complies with the requirements of this Code.

1.1.6. ‘Safety Management Certificate’ means a document issued to a ship which signifies that the company and its shipboard management operate in accordance with the approved safety management system.

1.1.7. ‘Objective evidence’ means quantitative or qualitative information, records or statements of fact pertaining to safety or to the existence and implementation of a safety management system element, which is based on observation, measurement or test and which can be verified.

1.1.8. ‘Observation’ means a statement of fact made during a safety management audit and substantiated by objective evidence.

1.1.9. ‘Non-conformity’ means an observed situation where objective evidence indicates the non-fulfilment of a specified requirement.

1.1.10. ‘Major non-conformity’ means an identifiable deviation that poses a serious threat to the safety of personnel or the ship or a serious risk to the environment that requires immediate corrective action and includes the lack of effective and systematic implementation of a requirement of this Code.

1.1.11. ‘Anniversary date’ means the day and month of each year that corresponds to the date of expiry of the relevant document or certificate.

1.1.12. ‘Convention’ means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 as amended.

1.2.1. The objectives of the Code are to ensure safety at sea, prevention of human injury or loss of life, and avoidance of damage to the environment, in particular, to the marine environment, and to property.

1.2.2. Safety management objectives of the company should, inter alia:

1.2.2.1. provide for safe practices in ship operation and a safe working environment;

1.2.2.2. establish safeguards against all identified risks; and

1.2.2.3. continuously improve safety management skills of personnel ashore and aboard ships, including preparing for emergencies related both to safety and environmental protection.

1.2.3. The safety management system should ensure:

1.2.3.1. compliance with mandatory rules and regulations; and

1.2.3.2. that applicable codes, guidelines and standards recommended by the organisation, administrations, classification societies and maritime industry organisations are taken into account.

1.4.1. a safety and environmental protection policy;

1.4.2. instructions and procedures to ensure safe operation of ships and protection of the environment in compliance with relevant international and flag State legislation;

1.4.3. defined levels of authority and lines of communication between, and amongst, shore and shipboard personnel;

1.4.4. procedures for reporting accidents and non-conformities with the provisions of this Code;

1.4.5. procedures to prepare for and respond to emergency situations; and

1.4.6. procedures for internal audits and management reviews.

2.1. The company should establish a safety and environmental protection policy which describes how the objectives, given in paragraph 1.2, will be achieved.

2.2. The company should ensure that the policy is implemented and maintained at all levels of the organisation both ship-based as well as shore-based.

3.1. If the entity who is responsible for the operation of the ship is other than the owner, the owner must report the full name and details of such entity to the administration.

3.2. The company should define and document the responsibility, authority and interrelation of all personnel who manage, perform and verify work relating to and affecting safety and pollution prevention.

3.3. The company is responsible for ensuring that adequate resources and shore-based support are provided to enable the designated person or persons to carry out their functions.

5.1. The company should clearly define and document the master's responsibility with regard to:

5.1.1. implementing the safety and environmental protection policy of the company;

5.1.2. motivating the crew in the observance of that policy;

5.1.3. issuing appropriate orders and instructions in a clear and simple manner;

5.1.4. verifying that specified requirements are observed; and

5.1.5. reviewing the SMS and reporting its deficiencies to the shore-based management.

5.2. The company should ensure that the SMS operating on board the ship contains a clear statement emphasising the master's authority. The company should establish in the SMS that the master has the overriding authority and the responsibility to make decisions with respect to safety and pollution prevention and to request the company's assistance as may be necessary.

6.1. The company should ensure that the master is:

6.1.1. properly qualified for command;

6.1.2. fully conversant with the company's SMS; and

6.1.3. given the necessary support so that the master's duties can be safely performed.

6.2. The company should ensure that each ship is manned with qualified, certificated and medically fit seafarers in accordance with national and international requirements.

6.3. The company should establish procedures to ensure that new personnel and personnel transferred to new assignments related to safety and protection of the environment are given proper familiarisation with their duties.

6.4. The company should ensure that all personnel involved in the company's SMS have an adequate understanding of relevant rules, regulations, codes and guidelines.

6.5. The company should establish and maintain procedures for identifying any training which may be required in support of the SMS and ensure that such training is provided for all personnel concerned.

6.6. The company should establish procedures by which the ship's personnel receive relevant information on the SMS in a working language or languages understood by them.

6.7. The company should ensure that the ship's personnel are able to communicate effectively in the execution of their duties related to the SMS.

8.1. The company should establish procedures to identify, describe and respond to potential emergency shipboard situations.

8.2. The company should establish programmes for drills and exercises to prepare for emergency actions.

8.3. The SMS should provide for measures ensuring that the company's organisation can respond at any time to hazards, accidents and emergency situations involving its ships.

9.1. The SMS should include procedures ensuring that non-conformities, accidents and hazardous situations are reported to the company, investigated and analysed with the objective of improving safety and pollution prevention.

9.2. The company should establish procedures for the implementation of corrective action.

10.1. The company should establish procedures to ensure that the ship is maintained in conformity with the provisions of the relevant rules and regulations and with any additional requirements which may be established by the company.

10.2. In meeting these requirements the company should ensure that:

10.2.1. inspections are held at appropriate intervals;

10.2.2. any non-conformity is reported with its possible cause, if known;

10.2.3. appropriate corrective action is taken; and

10.2.4. records of these activities are maintained.

10.3. The company should establish procedures in the SMS to identify equipment and technical systems the sudden operational failure of which may result in hazardous situations. The SMS should provide for specific measures aimed at promoting the reliability of such equipment or systems. These measures should include the regular testing of stand-by arrangements and equipment or technical systems that are not in continuous use.

10.4. The inspections mentioned in 10.2 as well as the measures referred to in 10.3 should be integrated in the ship's operational maintenance/routine.

11.1. The company should establish and maintain procedures to control all documents and data, which are relevant to the SMS.

11.2. The company should ensure that:

11.2.1. valid documents are available at all relevant locations;

11.2.2. changes to documents are reviewed and approved by authorised personnel; and

11.2.3. obsolete documents are promptly removed.

11.3. The documents used to describe and implement the SMS may be referred to as the ‘safety management manual’. Documentation should be kept in a form that the company considers most effective. Each ship should carry on board all documentation relevant to that ship.

12.1. The company should carry out internal safety audits to verify whether safety and pollution prevention activities comply with the SMS.

12.2. The company should periodically evaluate the efficiency and when needed review the SMS in accordance with procedures established by the company.

12.3. The audits and possible corrective actions should be carried out in accordance with documented procedures.

12.4. Personnel carrying out audits should be independent of the areas being audited unless this is impracticable due to the size and the nature of the company.

12.5. The results of the audits and reviews should be brought to the attention of all personnel having responsibility in the area involved.

12.6. The management personnel responsible for the area involved should take timely corrective action on deficiencies found.

13.1. The ship should be operated by a company which has been issued with a Document of Compliance or with an Interim Document of Compliance in accordance with paragraph 14.1, relevant to that ship.

13.2. The Document of Compliance should be issued by the administration, by an organisation recognised by the administration or, at the request of the administration, by another contracting government to the Convention to any company complying with the requirements of this Code for a period specified by the administration which should not exceed five years. Such a document should be accepted as evidence that the company is capable of complying with the requirements of this Code.

13.3. The Document of Compliance is only valid for the ship types explicitly indicated in the document. Such indication should be based on the types of ships on which the initial verification was based. Other ship types should only be added after verification of the company's capability to comply with the requirements of this Code applicable to such ship types. In this context, ship types are those referred to in Regulation IX/1 of the Convention.

13.4. The validity of a Document of Compliance should be subject to annual verification by the administration or by an organisation recognised by the administration or, at the request of the administration by another contracting government within three months before or after the anniversary date.

13.5. The Document of Compliance should be withdrawn by the administration or, at its request, by the contracting government which issued the document, when the annual verification required in paragraph 13.4 is not requested or if there is evidence of major non-conformities with this Code.

13.5.1. All associated Safety Management Certificates and/or Interim Safety Management Certificates should also be withdrawn if the Document of Compliance is withdrawn.

13.6. A copy of the Document of Compliance should be placed on board in order that the master of the ship, if so requested, may produce it for verification by the administration or by an organisation recognised by the administration or for the purposes of the control referred to in Regulation IX/6.2 of the Convention. The copy of the document is not required to be authenticated or certified.

13.7. The Safety Management Certificate should be issued to a ship for a period which should not exceed five years by the administration or an organisation recognised by the administration or, at the request of the administration, by another contracting government. The Safety Management Certificate should be issued after verifying that the company and its shipboard management operate in accordance with the approved safety management system. Such a certificate should be accepted as evidence that the ship is complying with the requirements of this Code.

13.8. The validity of the Safety Management Certificate should be subject to at least one intermediate verification by the administration or an organisation recognised by the administration or, at the request of the administration, by another contracting government. If only one intermediate verification is to be carried out and the period of validity of the Safety Management Certificate is five years, it should take place between the second and third anniversary date of the Safety Management Certificate.

13.9. In addition to the requirements of paragraph 13.5.1, the Safety Management Certificate should be withdrawn by the administration or, at the request of the administration, by the contracting government which has issued it when the intermediate verification required in paragraph 13.8 is not requested or if there is evidence of major non-conformity with this Code.

13.10. Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraphs 13.2 and 13.7, when the renewal verification is completed within three months before the expiry date of the existing Document of Compliance or Safety Management Certificate, the new Document of Compliance or the new Safety Management Certificate should be valid from the date of completion of the renewal verification for a period not exceeding five years from the date of expiry of the existing Document of Compliance or Safety Management Certificate.

13.11. When the renewal verification is completed more than three months before the expiry date of the existing Document of Compliance or Safety Management Certificate, the new Document of Compliance or the new Safety Management Certificate should be valid from the date of completion of the renewal verification for a period not exceeding five years from the date of completion of the renewal verification.

14.1. An Interim Document of Compliance may be issued to facilitate initial implementation of this Code when:

14.2. An Interim Safety Management Certificate may be issued:

14.3. An administration or, at the request of the administration, another contracting government may, in special cases, extend the validity of an Interim Safety Management Certificate for a further period which should not exceed six months from the date of expiry.

14.4. An Interim Safety Management Certificate may be issued following verification that:

15.1. All verifications required by the provisions of this Code should be carried out in accordance with procedures acceptable to the administration, taking into account the guidelines developed by the organisation ( 4 ).

16.1. The Document of Compliance, the Safety Management Certificate, the Interim Document of Compliance and the Interim Safety Management Certificate should be drawn up in a form corresponding to the models given in the appendix to this Code. If the language used is neither English nor French, the text should include a translation into one of these languages.

16.2. In addition to the requirements of paragraph 13.3 the ship types indicated on the Document of Compliance and the Interim Document of Compliance may be endorsed to reflect any limitations in the operations of the ships described in the safety management system.

Appendix

Forms of the Document of Compliance, the Safety Management Certificate, the Interim Document of Compliance and the Interim Safety Management Certificate

DOCUMENT OF COMPLIANCE

(Official seal)/(State)

Certificate No

Issued under the provisions of the

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA, 1974, as amended

Under the authority of the Government of …

(name of the State)

by …

(person or organisation authorised)

Name and address of the company:

…

…

(see paragraph 1.1.2 of the ISM Code)

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT the safety management system of the company has been audited and that it complies with the requirements of the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (ISM Code) for the types of ships listed below (delete as appropriate):

This Document of Compliance is valid until ………, subject to periodical verification.

Issued at …

(place of issue of the document)

Date of issue …

…

(Signature of the duly authorised official issuing the document)

(Seal or stamp of issuing authority, as appropriate)

Certificate No

ENDORSEMENT FOR ANNUAL VERIFICATION

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT, at the periodical verification in accordance with Regulation IX/6.1 of the Convention and paragraph 13.4 of the ISM Code, the safety management system was found to comply with the requirements of the ISM Code.

SAFETY MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE

(Official seal)/(State)

Certificate No

Issued under the provisions of the

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA, 1974, as amended

Under the authority of the Government of …

(name of the State)

by …

(person or organisation authorised)

Name of ship: …

Distinctive number or letters: …

Port of registry: …

Type of ship ( *1 ): …

Gross tonnage: …

IMO number: …

Name and address of company: …

(see paragraph 1.1.2 of the ISM Code)

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT the safety management system of the ship has been audited and that it complies with the requirements of the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (ISM Code), following verification that the Document of Compliance for the company is applicable to this type of ship.

This Safety Management Certificate is valid until …, subject to periodical verification and the Document of Compliance remaining valid.

Issued at …

(place of issue of the document)

Date of issue …

(Signature of the duly authorised official issuing the certificate)

(Seal or stamp of issuing authority, as appropriate)

Certificate No

ENDORSEMENT FOR INTERMEDIATE VERIFICATION AND ADDITIONAL VERIFICATION (IF REQUIRED)

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT, at the periodical verification in accordance with Regulation IX/6.1 of the Convention and paragraph 13.8 of the ISM Code, the safety management system was found to comply with the requirements of the ISM Code.

INTERIM DOCUMENT OF COMPLIANCE

(Official seal)/(State)

Certificate No

Issued under the provisions of the

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA, 1974, as amended

Under the authority of the Government of …

(name of the State)

by …

(person or organisation authorised)

Name and address of the company: …

(see paragraph 1.1.2 of the ISM Code)

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT the safety management system of the company has been recognised as meeting the objectives of paragraph 1.2.3 of the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (ISM Code), for the type(s) of ships listed below (delete as appropriate):

This Interim Document of Compliance is valid until:

Issued at: …

(Place of issue of the document)

Date of issue: …

(Signature of the duly authorised official issuing the document)

(Seal or stamp of issuing authority, as appropriate)

INTERIM SAFETY MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE

(Official seal)/(State)

Certificate No

Issued under the provisions of the

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA, 1974,

as amended

Under the authority of the Government of …

(name of the State)

by …

(person or organisation authorised)

Name of ship: …

Distinctive number or letters: …

Port of registry: …

Type of ship ( *2 ): …

Gross tonnage: …

IMO number: …

Name and address of company: …

…

(see paragraph 1.1.2 of the ISM Code)

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT the requirements of paragraph 14.4 of the ISM Code have been met and that the Document of Compliance/Interim Document of Compliance ( *3 ) of the company is relevant to this ship.

This Interim Safety Management Certificate is valid until …

subject to the Document of Compliance/Interim Document of Compliance (*3)  remaining valid.

Issued at …

(place of issue of the document)

Date of issue: …

(Signature of the duly authorised official issuing the certificate)

(Seal or stamp of issuing authority, as appropriate)

Certificate No

The validity of this Interim Safety Management Certificate is extended to: …

Date of extension: …

(Signature of the duly authorised official extending the validity)

(Seal or stamp of issuing authority, as appropriate)

1.1. When carrying out verifications and certification tasks required by the provisions of the ISM Code for ships falling within the scope of this Regulation, Member States shall comply with the requirements and standards laid down in Part B of this Title.

1.2. In addition Member States shall take due account of the provisions of the Revised Guidelines on the Implementation of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code by Administrations, adopted by the IMO through Resolution A.913(22) of 29 November 2001, as far as they are not covered under Part B of this Title.

2.1. The certification process relevant for the issuance of a document of compliance for a company and a safety management certificate to each ship shall be performed taking account of the provisions set out below.

2.2. The certification process shall normally involve the following steps:

2.3. The verifications shall include a safety management audit.

2.4. A lead auditor and, if relevant, an audit team, shall be nominated to perform the audit.

2.5. The nominated lead auditor shall liaise with the company and produce an audit plan.

2.6. An audit report shall be prepared under the direction of the lead auditor, who is responsible for its accuracy and completeness.

2.7. The audit report shall include the audit plan, identification of audit team members, dates and identification of the company, records of any observations and non-conformities and observations on the effectiveness of the safety management system in meeting the specified objectives.

3.1. Auditors or the audit team managing verification of compliance with the ISM Code shall have competence in relation to:

3.2. In performing verification of compliance with the provisions of the ISM Code it shall be ensured that independence exists between the personnel providing consultancy services and those involved in the certification procedure.

4.1. Basic competence for performing verification

4.1.1. Personnel who are to participate in the verification of compliance with the requirements of the ISM Code shall fulfil the minimum criteria for inspectors as laid down in Section 2 of Annex VII to Directive 95/21/EC.

4.1.2. They shall have undergone training to ensure adequate competence and skills for performing verification of compliance with the requirements of the ISM Code, particularly with regard to:

4.2. Competence for initial verification and renewal verification

4.2.1. In order to assess fully whether the company or each type of ship complies with the requirements of the ISM Code, in addition to the basic competence stated above, personnel who are to perform initial verifications or renewal verifications for a document of compliance and a safety management certificate, must possess the competence to:

4.2.2. This competence can be accomplished by teams, which together possess the total competence required.