RS Rules Conform to the IMO Goal-based Standards
The rules of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping are in conformity to the International Maritime Organization (IMO)goal-based standards (GBS), the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) confirmed at its 96th session held in London from May 11-20, 2016.
The amendments in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS 74/78) regulation II-1/3-10, introducing GBS, were adopted in 2010. The amendments enter into force on July 1, 2016 set for application to oil tankers and bulk carriers contracted for construction on or after this date. The goal-based standards include a set of functional requirements for the ships throughout their service life, from designing to recycling.
One of GBS key stages is verification of conformity of the rules of the classification societies against GBS functional requirements. Based on the application and the necessary documents and materials sent by RS to the IMO Secretariat, in 2014 a team of the IMO independent auditors performed an audit of the RS rules. It was recommended to the Maritime Safety Committee to recognize the rules as conforming to the IMO GBS.
A decision regarding the conformity of the RS rules to the IMO GBS was unanimously taken by the Maritime Safety Committee at its 96th session. Thus, the RS is able to classify oil tankers and bulk carries contracted for construction on July 1, 2016 or after this date. List of classification societies the rules of which were verified is given in MSC.1/Circ.1518.
