Paris MoU agrees New Regime

PARIS MOU AGREES NEW REGIME

THE Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control's (Paris MoU) has adopted its New Inspection Regime (NIR), which it describes as ?a ground-breaking development in port state control (PSC)? and will replace the existing PSC regime on 1 January 2011.

The NIR was developed following a process of review of the existing Port State Control mechanism. It has been developed in parallel with the EU"s 3rd Maritime Safety Package.

A Paris MOU statement says: ?The NIR is a significant departure as it is a risk based targeting mechanism, which will reward quality shipping with a smaller inspection burden and concentrate on high-risk ships, which will be subject to more in-depth and more frequent inspections. The NIR is based on the latest developments at the IMO and makes use of company performance and the IMO audit for identifying the risk profile of ships together with the performance of the flag State and the recognised organisation. The past inspection record of the ship as well as the ship"s age and ship type will influence the targeting. Full implementation of the system will rely on collection of port call information. The NIR will be accompanied by a new information system, THETIS, which will replace the current SIReNaC system.

The Paris MOU has also decided to develop guidelines for port state control officers for implementation Consolidated Maritime Labour Convention 2006 which may enter into force from 2011 onwards. These guidelines will be based on the MLC 2006 and take into account the recently adopted port state control guidelines from the ILO.

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