The 9^th Seminar

Brisbane, 11 - 13 September 2002

Agenda item 1

1 The Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region or the Tokyo MOU, was concluded and signed at the Tokyo meeting on 1 December 1993 by 18 maritime Authorities in the Asia-Pacific region, namely, Australia, Canada, China, Fiji, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea. Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Vanuatu and Viet Nam.

　

2 According to paragraph 8.6 of the Memorandum, those Authorities that has signed and formally accepted the Memorandum become Members of the MOU. Until present, with the exception of the Solomon Islands, 17 Authorities have signed and accepted the MOU and thus are full Members of the Tokyo MOU (on the date of acceptance in parentheses):

　

　

In accordance with paragraph 8.2 of the Memorandum, the following Authority has become the 18th Member Authority:

　

^* This paper was prepared based on the submission to the 2^nd Workshop for regional PSC Agreement Secretaries and Directors of Information Centres held at IMO Headquarters, London - 3 to 5 July 2002.

　

3 The Tokyo MOU came into effect on 1 April 1994. A permanent secretariat (called the Tokyo MOU Secretariat) was established in Tokyo as an independent body to serve the Port State Control Committee and became operational in April 1994.

　

The Asia-Pacific Computerized Information System (APCIS) was established in Canada to maintain records for port State inspections, but this function was transferred to the database centre in Vladivostok, the Russian Federation, effective on 1 January 2000.

　

4 The Port State Control Committee is the executive body of the Tokyo MOU established under the Memorandum. It monitors and controls the operation and effectiveness of the MOU and takes decisions on policy, administrative and technical matters relating to the operation of the MOU. The Committee consists of the above-mentioned eighteen member Authorities and observers from Brunei Darussalam, Solomon Islands, the United States Coast Guard, International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Labour Organization (ILO), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Paris MOU and Indian Ocean MOU Secretariats.

　

Up to the present, the Committee has been held eleven meetings; namely:

　

　

The 12th meeting of the Committee is scheduled to be held in Valparaiso, Chile from 21-27 March 2003.

　

5 During the past eleven meetings, the Port State Control Committee took many important decisions concerning the implementation of the Memorandum and uniform practices on port State inspections. Some of the major achievements made by the Committee are briefly described in the following paragraphs.

　

6 Bearing in mind significant difference in the stage of development of port State control activities among the member Authorities in the Asia-Pacific region, it was impracticable to set a single target inspection figure applicable to all Authorities. The regional inspection rate of 50% of the foreign ships visiting the Asia-Pacific ports was originally set out as a target figure to be achieved by 2000.

　

7 The Committee at its 8th meeting in 2000 reviewed the target regional inspection rate of 50% and agreed to amend the MOU to increase the target regional inspection rate to 75% since the 50% had already reached in 1996.

　

8 The MOU initially concluded in Tokyo in 1993 contained in Annexes guidelines for port State control procedures. In 1996, the Committee considered that, taking into account the updating and revisions of port State control procedures in IMO, the MOU should contain only general principle of port State control procedures and administrative provisions, and technical details should be guided by the port Sate control procedures adopted by IMO. The Committee prepared revised MOU deleting Annexes and incorporating new provisions taking into account recent developments in IMO and the Paris MOU. The revised MOU and consequential changes of the Manual were adopted in 1998.

　

9 In 2001 the Committee adopted further amendment to the MOU and the Manual incorporating resolution A.882(21), revised convention references and other changes and updates.

　

10 APCIS was originally located in Canada and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. In 1998, the Committee recognized the need to modernize the system, using modern communications technology, and proposed new systems using Internet were developed by Canada and the Russian Federation. At its 7th meeting in 1999, the Committee decided that the new APCIS should be located in Vladivostok, the Russian Federation. After preparatory work, APCIS 2000 commenced its operation on 1 January 2000.

　

11 The Committee in 1997 decided that a list of detentions of ships should be published in the Tokyo MOU web-site. Initially the detention list was published quarterly, but presently the list is published on a monthly basis.

　

12 The Committee at 11th meeting agreed to publish all results of PSC inspections on the Tokyo MOU web-site from January 2003.

　

13 The Committee has prepared guidelines and criteria for technical and administrative matters, including:

　

14 The Authorities of Tokyo MOU have tackled Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) twice as:

　

The 2^nd CIC on ISM Code compliance is to conduct from 1 July 2002, when the ISM Code will become fully effective, to 30 September 2002.

　

15 In April 2001 the data exchange between the APCIS of the Tokyo MOU and the SERENAC of the Paris MOU was launched, so that it has enabled PSCOs in both regions to access the databases each other.

　

16 The Committee at its 11th meeting agreed the targeting system to identify ships subject to priority inspection. The system would be implemented on a trial basis, with the target implementation date of 1 January 2003, and be used by member Authorities on a voluntary basis for the time being.