SOLAS security amendments and ISPS Code now in force

摘要

Far-reaching international maritime security measures developed and adopted by IMO entered into force on 1 July 2004. The security measures, which include the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code), are in the form of amendments to the 1974 Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention and are aimed at enhancing maritime security on board ships and at ship/port interface areas. They were adopted by a Conference on Maritime Security in December 2002. The bulk of the new security measures are included in a new Chapter XI-2, entitled Special measures to enhance maritime security. The new chapter applies to passenger ships and cargo ships of 500 gross tonnage and above, including high speed craft, mobile offshore drilling units and port facilities serving such ships engaged on international voyages, and it enshrines the much-heralded ISPS Code.