Although scheduled for Friday afternoon, this took place on Thursday afternoon. The Regional Maritime Legal Advisor (RMLA) told delegates that over the last few years he had written various items of legislation and regulations for most PICTs. These had been refined and improved through a number of iterations. The latest versions of this legislation and regulations had been modified to suit a mythical country called Pasifika and would serve as a model for PICTs who wanted to develop legislation or regulations on one of the model topics. The compendium of model law was a four-volume, loose-leaf set covering the following areas:

　

Out of a set of about 32 headings some 18 have been prepared to date and were included in the compendium. These will be augmented by the regulations developed for Dangerous Goods, Deck Cargoes and Containers, Safe Ship Management Systems and Maritime Radio Communications.

　

Copies of the Pacific Islands Maritime Legislation and Regulations were distributed to delegates representing member governments. The RMLA apologised to delegates that the full set was not being distributed but explained the three last regulations would be sent out within the next three weeks. He said that the task was greater than had been anticipated but that he was very satisfied with the support he had received from all the RMP team who had assisted in the manufacture and distribution of the material.

　

　

Delegates from each country reported on their current situations with particular reference to :

　

Country papers are attached as Annex 4.

　

The RMTA, standing in for the Chairperson, introduced the RMLA, who presented the Regional Maritime Legal Services Plan to the meeting. He said that although it was titled Strategic Development Plan it may not look like a typical Strategic Plan, and yet there was some strategy behind its content and format. He stated that he believed that most of the delegates around the table knew of the technical issues that must be addressed by government in the maritime sector, but very often, the Minister responsible for shipping had a large portfolio, often comprising Works. Communications. Energy, Highways and Road Transport, with Shipping added almost as an afterthought. Furthermore, in many cases, politicians and senior bureaucrats did not fully realise the importance of the maritime sector and the contribution to the national economy made by seafarers serving on international vessels. All this made it difficult for directors of marine to get the attention of the permanent secretary and the minister. Therefore, one of the purposes of the Strategic Plan was that permanent secretaries and ministers could be made aware of the pressing issues involving the maritime sector in terms of vessel safety, marine pollution and good port practices.

　

He also pointed out that shipping, by its very nature, was an international endeavour that was increasingly governed by international conventions, codes and other agreements. He indicated that his main mandate was to advise PICTs and assist them to develop legislation and regulations, but that this objective had in some way been met by the development of Pacific Islands Maritime Legislation and Regulations. He noted that the model Marine Pollution Prevention Act was a co-operative effort between the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and SPC and that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) had been very supportive of the efforts of the RMP of SPC. He described the new conventions in respect of ballast water, compensation for damage from pollution from bunkers, and pollution from anti-fouling paints, noting that Suva Harbour was one of the most polluted in the region in the area of the marine slipway. He mentioned that the government of ROC/Taiwan had granted USD 20,000 for the re-institution of the Regional Maritime Legal Internship Programme, and noted that the first intern, Catherine Wiehe, Assistant Attorney General from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, would start a four-week programme on 02 March 2002.

　

The RMLA noted that there had been many changes in the shipping sector over the last 25 years, not least of which was the Law of the Sea Convention of 1982, which came into force in 1994, and the shift in the focus of shipping from Western Europe in the 1960s to South and East Asia in the 1990s. He noted that there had been significant changes to the CLC 1969 and FUND 1971 Conventions, and urged states to denounce these and accede to the CLC and FUND 1992 Conventions. He also mentioned that member states of IMO need to accede to changes to the IMO Convention that would give official recognition to the Facilitation Committee. Port State Control was also a new phenomenon that was affecting the manner in which ships were operated and by which safety standards were being maintained. He mentioned a number of international maritime conventions that had been developed out of marine tragedies or serious accidents, such as the Titanic, the Exxon Valdez and the Herald of Free Enterprise, and more recently, the Erika and the Ivoli Sun.

　

The Strategic Plan briefly described most of the important IMO, ILO and other maritime conventions. It pointed out that 10 PICTs had been included on the IMO White List, meaning that seafarers from most PICTs would have their certificates recognised by other countries in the region and around the world. He also noted that while obtaining White List status was an achievement, constant vigilance would have to be maintained to ensure that both marine administrations and maritime training institutions followed their quality management systems, thereby surviving their audits and retaining their position on the White List.

　

He said that he believed that while implementation of STCW-95 had been a desirable achievement in terms of raising standards of watchkeepers, PICTs should guard against thinking this was all the education and professional development that seafarers required. He felt that future marine superintendents, directors of marine, and port administrators need to be from the seagoing ranks, but those people would require education and experience in business matters before they could effectively perform their new duties as managers as opposed to masters. Likewise, seafarers were usually uncomfortable with matters legal, and lawyers were equally as uncomfortable with legal matters of a marine nature. Both required additional professional development outside their areas of expertise. PICTS needed to develop their human resources in the maritime sector and succession plans for key positions were required.

　

The second half of the Strategic Development Plan contained initiatives for the future in the areas of:

　

The Plan also contained 21 Planned Programme Activities but did not yet contain the detail of the earlier RMP Six Year Strategic Plan 2000-2005, since SPC had decided to develop a format for strategic plans for all divisions which would be distributed as a template later this year. When that had been released, then the Plan would be finalised and re-issued.

　

The final request of the RMLA to delegates was to affirm that their respective governments fully supported the concept of Reciprocal Recognition of Certificates as distributed by circular last year. To date, not many PICTs had responded to the circular containing a draft Memorandum of Understanding whereby PICTs would agree in a single document (rather than dozens of bilateral agreements) to recognise the Certificates of Competency issued by other PICTs.

　

The RMLA reminded delegates that there had been significant changes to the CLC 1969 and FUND 1971 Conventions and that the 1971 Fund had been wound up and offered no protection in the event of a major oil spill. He urged states to denounce these and accede to the CLC and FUND 1992 Conventions. He offered delegates whose countries had not yet denounced or acceded, model Instruments of Accession for those countries to become parties.

　

He also mentioned that member states of IMO need to accede to changes to the IMO Convention that would give official recognition to the Facilitation Committee. He distributed model Instruments of Accession for this purpose and asked IMO Member countries to have the instrument signed by the appropriate function in their government and return it forthwith to the Secretary General of IMO.

　

　

The RMTA presented this paper and discussed the need for countries to ensure they had audit procedures in place to meet this need. He also discussed the Maritime Auditors course that has been completed and the next course that will be held in Suva from 4 to 8 March.

　

He introduced the concept of having a regional auditing committee made up of people who have successfully passed the training course, and who would be available to complete audits in member countries as requested. The RMP would fund members of the audit committee to travel to different countries to conduct the audits. This service would be available to all countries that require it and if countries already had arrangements in place with other auditing companies then they could continue to use those companies.

　

There was much favourable discussion on this proposal and the meeting agreed to move a resolution to set up the committee with the RMP providing secretarial services to the committee and organising the audit schedule. The paper is attached as Annex 5.