12 Issue of marine casualty reports and submission to IMO
12.1 The lead investigating State should send a copy of the draft of the final report to all substantially interested States, inviting their significant and substantiated comments on the report as soon as possible. If the lead investigating State receives comments within thirty days, or within some mutually agreed period, it should either amend the draft final report to include the substance of the comments, or append the comments to the final report. If the lead investigating State receives no comments after the mutually agreed period has expired, it should send the final report to the Organization in accordance with applicable requirements and cause the report to be published.
12.2 By fully participating in an investigation conducted by another substantially interested State that will be reporting to IMO, the flag State shall be considered as fulfilling its obligations under IMO conventions.
12.3 Reports, or relevant parts of reports, into the circumstances and causes of a marine casualty should be completed as quickly as practicable, and be made available to the public and the shipping industry in order to enhance safety of life at sea and protection of the marine environment through improved awareness of the factors which combine to cause marine casualties.
12.4 Where a substantially interested State disagrees with whole or part of the report referred to in 12.1 above, it may submit its own report to the Organization.
12.5 The investigating State, upon determining that urgent safety action is needed, may initiate interim recommendations to the appropriate authority.
13 Re-opening of investigations
When new evidence relating to any casualty is presented, it should be fully assessed and referred to other substantially interested States for appropriate input. In the case of new evidence which may materially alter the determination of the circumstances under which the marine casualty occurred, and may materially alter the findings in relation to its cause or any consequential recommendations, States should reconsider their findings.
14 Contents of reports
14.1 To facilitate the flow of information from casualty investigations, each report should conform to the basic format outlined in 14.2 below.
14.2 Reports should include, wherever possible:
.1 a summary outlining the basic facts of the casualty and stating whether any deaths, injuries or pollution occurred as a result;
.2 the identity of the flag State owners managers company and classification society;
.3 details of the dimensions and engines of any ship involved, together with a description of the crew, work routine and other relevant matters, such as time served on the ship;
.4 a narrative detailing the circumstances of the casualty;
.5 analysis and comment which should enable the report to reach logical conclusions, or findings, establishing all the factors that contributed to the casualty;
.6 a section, or sections, analysing and commenting on the causal elements, including both mechanical and human factors, meeting the requirements of the IMO casualty data base; and
.7 where appropriate, recommendations with a view to preventing similar casualties.
15 Contact between Administrations
To facilitate implementation of this Code, States should inform the Organization of the responsible authorities within their Governments that may be contacted regarding cooperation in casualty investigations.
