AMENDMENTS TO THE INTERNATIONAL CODE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF SHIPS CARRYING DANGEROUS CHEMICALS IN BULK (IBC CODE)
THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COMMITTEE,
RECALLING Article 38(a) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the function of the Committee conferred upon it by international conventions for the prevention and control of marine pollution,
RECALLING ALSO resolution MEPC. 19(22) by which it adopted the International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk (IBC Code),
NOTING article 16 of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (hereinalter referred to as the "1973 Convention") and article VI of the Protocol of 1978 relating to the 1973 Convention (hereinalter referred to as the "1978 Protocol") which together specify the amendment procedure of the 1978 Protocol and confers upon the appropriate body of the Organization the function of considering and adopting amendments to the 1973 Convention, as modified by the 1978 Protocol (MARPOL 73/78),
BEING DESIROUS of keeping the IBC Code up to date,
NOTING that the MARITIME SAFETY COMMITTEE, at its sixty-sixth session, by resolution MSC.50(66) had adopted, in accordance with article VIII(b)(iv) of the SOLAS Convention, amendments to the Code the text of which is set out at annex to the present resolution,
CONSIDERING that it is highly desirable for the provisions of the IBC Code, which are mandatory under both the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto (MARPOL 73/78) and the 1974 SOLAS Convention, to remain identical,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its thirty-eighth session, amendments to the Code proposed and circulated in accordance with article 16(2)(a) of the MARPOL Convention,
1. ADOPTS, in accordance with article 16(2)(b) of the 1973 Convention, amendments to the IBC Code, the text of which is set out at Annex to the present resolution;
2. DETERMINES, in accordance with article 16(2)(f)(iii) of the 1973 Convention, that the amendments shall be deemed to have been accepted on 1 January' 1998, unless prior to the date, not less than one-third of the Parties or the Parties, the combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less than fifty per cent of the gross tonnage of the world's merchant fleet, have communicated to the Organization their objections to the amendments;
3. INVITES the Parties to note that in accordance with article 16(2)(g)(ii) of the 1973 Convention the amendments shall enter into force on 1 July 1998 in accordance with paragraph 2 above;
