RESOLUTION A.849(20)
adopted on 27 November 1997
CODE FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF MARINE CASUALTIES AND INCIDENTS
THE ASSEMBLY
RECALLING article 15(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety and the prevention and control of marine pollution from ships,
NOTING with concern that, despite the best endeavours of the Organization, casualties and incidents resulting in loss of life, loss of ships and pollution of the marine environment continue to occur,
NOTING ALSO that the safety of seafarers and passengers and the protection of the marine environment can be enhanced by timely and accurate reports identifying the circumstances and causes of marine casualties and incidents,
NOTING FURTHER the rights and obligations of coastal and flag States under the provisions of articles 2 and 94 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),
NOTING IN ADDITION the responsibilities of flag States under the provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (regulation I/21), the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966 (article 23) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (article 12), to conduct casualty investigations and to supply the Organization with relevant findings,
CONSIDERING the need to ensure that flag States are required, under the aforementioned conventions, to investigate all cases of serious and very serious casualties,
ACKNOWLEDGING that the investigation and proper analysis of marine casualties and incidents can lead to greater awareness of casualty causation and result in remedial measures, including better training, for the purpose of enhancing safety of life at sea and protection of the marine environment,
RECOGNIZING the need for a code to provide, as far as national laws allow, a standard approach to marine casualty and incident investigation with the sole purpose of correctly identifying the causes and underlying causes of casualties and incidents,
RECOGNIZING ALSO the international nature of shipping and the need for co-operation between Governments having a substantial interest in a marine casualty or incident for the purpose of determining the circumstances and causes thereof,
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendations made by the Maritime Safety Committee at its sixty-eighth session and by the Marine Environment Protection Committee at its fortieth session:
1. ADOPTS the Code for the Investigation of Marine Casualties and Incidents set out in the Annex to the present resolution;
2. INVITES all Governments concerned to take appropriate measures to give effect to the Code as soon as possible;
3. REQUESTS flag States to conduct an investigation into all very serious and serious marine casualties and to supply the Organization with all relevant findings;
4. REVOKES resolutions A.173(ES.IV), A.440(XI) and A.637(16).
