What is IMO?
The International Maritime Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for measures to improve the safety and security of international shipping and to prevent marine pollution from ships. It is also involved in legal matters, including liability and compensation issues and the facilitation of international maritime traffic. It was established by means of a Convention adopted under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva on 17 March 1948 and met for the first time in January 1959. It currently has 169 Member States. IMO's governing body is the Assembly which is made up of all 169 Member States and meets normally once every two years. It adopts the budget for the next biennium together with technical resolutions and recommendations prepared by subsidiary bodies during the previous two years. The Council acts as governing body in between Assembly sessions. It prepares the budget and work programme for the Assembly. The main technical work is carried out by the Maritime Safety, Marine Environment Protection, Legal, Technical Co-operation and Facilitation Committees and a number of sub-committees.
The IMO slogan sums up its objectives: Safe, secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans.
What does IMO do?
When IMO first began operations, its chief concern was to develop international treaties and other legislations concerning safety and marine pollution prevention.
By the late 1970s, however, this work had been largely completed, though a number of important instruments were adopted in more recent years. IMO is now concentrating on keeping legislations up to date and ensuring that it is ratified by as many countries as possible. This has been so successful that many Conventions now apply to more than 98% of world merchant shipping tonnage.
Currently the emphasis is on trying to ensure that these conventions and other treaties are properly implemented by the countries that have accepted them. The texts of conventions, codes and other instruments adopted by IMO can be purchased from IMO Publications.
What is IMDG?
The International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code is intended to provide for the safe transportation of dangerous goods by vessel and to prevent marine pollution.
What does the Code consist of?
The code contains advice on terminology, emergency response, handling, labeling, markings, packaging, placarding, stowage and segregation.
Who created the IMDG?
In 1961 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee began preparing the Code with the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. The Code was later adopted in 1965.
Who maintains the Code?
The IMDG Code is kept up-to-date by the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee. This committee can adopt amendments which do not affect the principles upon which the Code is based. These changes are needed to meet the needs of the industry.
Why is there an international Code?
The IMDG Code is an effort to harmonize the regulations concerning the transport of dangerous goods by sea. The IMDG Code IS NOW MENDATORY to governments for their use as the basis for their own national regulations concerning the transport of dangerous goods by sea. "Today at least 150 countries whose combined merchant fleets account for more than 98% of the world's gross tonnage use the IMDG Code as a basis for regulating sea transport of hazardous materials." - US DOT
Updating the IMDG Code
The IMDG Code is evolving and is updated every two years to take account of:
- New dangerous goods which have to be included.
- New technology and methods of working with or handling dangerous goods.
- Safety concerns which arise as a result of experience.
- Each version of the Code is given an Amendment
- Number to signify how many times it has been updated. This number appears at the bottom of each page together with the year of the Amendment.
- The current Amendment is 34-08 which is valid until 31st December 2011.
- However, from 1st January 2011 Amendment 35-10 can also be used because 2011 is a transition year which allows the use of both Amendments in tandem.
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