NOTICE

    On July 1, 1998, all passenger vessels, oil tankers, chemical tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers and high speed craft of 500 gross tons or more on an international voyage must be in compliance with the International Safety Management (ISM) Code. It will be extended to other ships in 2002.

    The ISM Code was adopted as a recommendation by the International Maritime Organization in 1993, but. After several years of practical experience, was made mandatory in a 1994 amendment to the IMO’s International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). The responsibility for verifying that the Code is implemented rests with the flag state, whose administration, or an organization recognized by its administration, is responsible for issuing a Document of Compliance to each company that meets the Code standards. In the United States, the U.S. Coast Guard is the agency assigned to compliance oversight.

    Approximately 70 percent of the merchant ships covered by the ISM Code are expected to comply by the July deadline, according to the IMO.