B. PASC was formed in 1973 and currently has 22 member countries including several of the world leaders in market share for shipbuilding. It serves as a forum for the countries and territories of the Pacific area to develop recommendations for communication to the international standards bodies, particularly ISO and IEC. With the formation of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC), a subcommittee of APEC's Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), governments of the region began to look at standards vis-a-vis their relationship to trade issues. PASC took the lead in making it clear to APEC/SCSC that it was an organization prepared to meet the needs of Asia-Pacific governments in the area of standardization so that those governments did not have to develop regional standards in order to facilitate trade and commerce. Several PASC members have committed to aligning their national standards with ISO and IEC, but have discovered that several of the international standards are outdated. In the eyes of APEC, "international standard" equates with ISO and IEC standards. Membership in PASC is shown in Appendix III.
3. Liaisons with other International Bodies;
IACS (International Association of Classification Societies), IAPH (International Association of Ports and Harbors), IMO (International Maritime Organization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).
A. IACS develops rules and regulations for the independent attestation as to the structural integrity and mechanical ability of the ship for the intended purpose (classification) and serves as the certifying agent under a delegation of authority from a maritime administration for related requirements of international and national regulatory instruments (statutory certification). For the purpose of classification, IACS utilizes its own criteria and procedures; whereas, for the purpose of statutory certification, it normally operates under a delegation of authority from a flag administration. Over 100 of IMO's members have delegated statutory work to IACS members, who then perform surveys and issue certificates according to various international conventions on their behalf.
