IMO Updates Virtual Meetings Calendar

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has published its remote meetings calendar for the rest of 2020 after its initial agenda of IMO Council and Committees sessions was scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The first scheduled meeting is set to be a simultaneous, remote extraordinary sessions of all Committees (expected to be held 16-18 September), to address procedural matters. This follows decisions of the IMO Council's thirty second extraordinary session (summary here C.ES 32), which adopted interim guidance to facilitate remote sessions of the IMO Council during the COVID-19 pandemic and invited the Committees to consider utilizing the same guidance.

Following the extraordinary sessions, the calendar sets  the 44th  session of the Facilitation (FAL) Committee (September 28-October 2); the Council 124th session of the Council (October 12-14); the seventh meeting of the Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships (October 19-23); the 102nd session of the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) (November 4-11); the 75th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) (November 16-20); the 107th session of the Legal Committee (November 27 and November 30- December 1) and a meeting of the IOPC Funds Assembly (December 2-4); the 70th session of the Technical Cooperation (TC) Committee (December 7-11); and the London Convention/London Protocol meeting (LC 42/LP 15) (December 14-15). The International Maritime Satellite Organization (IMSO) Assembly will meet from December 16-18.

The IMO Council's 32nd extraordinary session completed its work on August 3. The Council adopted a statement recognizing the importance of keeping trade flowing during the pandemic, recognizing the role of seafarers and emphasizing the urgent need for action on crew change. The Council also endorsed the World Maritime theme for 2021, "Seafarers: at the core of shippingʹs future".