RESOLUTION MSC.454(100)

(adopted on 7 December 2018)

 

REVISED GUIDELINES FOR VERIFICATION OF CONFORMITY WITH GOAL-BASED SHIP CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS FOR BULK CARRIERS AND OIL TANKERS

 

THE MARITIME SAFETY COMMITTEE,

 

RECALLING Article 28(b) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Committee,

 

HAVING ADOPTED, by resolution MSC.287(87), the International Goal-Based Ship Construction Standards for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers (hereinafter referred to as "the Standards") and, by resolution MSC.290(87), SOLAS regulations II-1/2.28 and II-1/3-10 to make the Standards mandatory,

 

NOTING that section 6 of the Standards requires that the rules for the design and construction of bulk carriers and oil tankers of an organization which is recognized by an Administration in accordance with the provisions of SOLAS regulation XI-1/1, or national rules of an Administration used as an equivalent to the rules of a recognized organization according to SOLAS regulation II-1/3-1, shall be verified as conforming to the goals and functional requirements of the Standards, based on the guidelines developed by the Organization,

 

RECOGNIZING the need for revision of the Guidelines for verification of conformity with goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers, adopted by resolution MSC.296(87), in light of the experience gained with their application and the recommendations made by the GBS Audit teams and to support their implementation,

 

HAVING CONSIDERED, at its 100th session, the proposed Revised guidelines for verification of conformity with goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers,

 

1.         ADOPTS the Revised guidelines for verification of conformity with goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers, the text of which is set out in the annex to the present resolution;

 

2.         REQUESTS Administrations and organizations recognized by Administrations in accordance with the provisions of SOLAS regulation XI-1/1 to utilize the Revised guidelines when applying for verification that their design and construction rules for bulk carriers and oil tankers conform to the Standards;

 

3.         INVITES Contracting Governments to note that these Revised guidelines should take effect on documentation submitted for initial verification and on rule and/or documentation changes undergoing the maintenance of verification process on or after 1 January 2020;

 

4.         RESOLVES to review these Revised guidelines, as necessary, in view of experience gained with their application;

 

5.         REVOKES resolution MSC.296(87) on 1 January 2020.

 

ANNEX

 

REVISED GUIDELINES FOR VERIFICATION OF CONFORMITY WITH THE INTERNATIONAL GOAL-BASED SHIP CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS FOR BULK CARRIERS AND OIL TANKERS

 

INTRODUCTION

 

1          The Organization adopted, by resolution MSC.287(87), the International goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers (hereinafter referred to as "the Standards"), specifying goals, functional requirements and verification of conformity to ensure that ships are constructed in such a manner that, when properly operated and maintained, they can remain safe for their design life, and that all parts of a ship can be easily accessed to permit proper inspection and ease of maintenance.

 

2          These Revised guidelines for verification of conformity with goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers (hereinafter referred to as "the Guidelines") provide the procedures necessary for demonstrating and verifying that the ship design and construction rules for bulk carriers and oil tankers of an Administration or its recognized organization conform to the Standards, including both the method and criteria to be applied during the verification process.

 

3          The Guidelines are composed of two parts:

 

.1       Part A establishes the procedures to be followed in order to verify that ship design and construction rules conform to the Standards. It includes sections on initial verification and maintenance of verification of the rules.

.2       Part B provides detailed documentation requirements and evaluation criteria that should be used to verify that the rules conform to the Standards.

 

4          Those rules having been verified as conforming to the Standards, according to previous version of the Guidelines (resolution MSC.296(87)), should not be re-verified based on an updated version of the Guidelines.

 

Definitions

 

5          For the purpose of the Guidelines, the following definitions apply:

 

.1       Conformity means fulfilment of Tier I goal(s) and Tier II functional requirement(s) of the Standards.

 

.2       Corrective action: action intended to eliminate the cause(s) of a non-conformity.

 

.3       Improvement action: action intended to address an observation.

 

.4       Finding means an observation or a non-conformity.

 

.5       Non-conformity means non-fulfilment of a Tier I goal(s) and Tier II functional requirement(s) of the Standards or lack of information or documentation requirements that prevent the evaluation criteria from being applied when conducting the audit.

 

.6       Objective evidence means quantitative or qualitative information, records or statement of fact which are based on observation, measurement or historical service data and which can be verified.

 

.7       Observation means statements of facts or proposals made during an audit which are based on objective evidence but are not a non-conformity, and that may provide the basis for improvement.

 

.8       Organization means the International Maritime Organization.

 

.9       Rules or rule set means requirements for hull design and construction of bulk carriers and/or oil tankers operating in unrestricted worldwide service. Within the verification audit process, any information and/or documentation, either supporting or included in the rule development process, which may include guidelines, interpretations and internal procedures considered necessary to assess the conformity of the rules may be interpreted as a part of the rule set.

 

.10     Secretary-General means the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization.

 

.11     Self-assessment means the Submitter assesses its rules for the design and construction of bulk carriers and/or oil tankers for conformity with the goals and functional requirements as set out in the Standards.

 

.12     SOLAS means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended.

 

.13     Standards means the International goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers, adopted by the Organization by resolution MSC.287(87).

 

.14     Submitter means any Administration or recognized organization that requests the Organization to verify that its ship design and construction rules for bulk carriers and/or oil tankers conform to the Standards.

 

.15     Third party means a party that is neither the Organization nor the Submitter.

 

.16     Verification (and any variation of the word verify) means the rules for the design and construction of bulk carriers and oil tankers have been compared to the Standards and have been found to be in conformity or are consistent with the goals and functional requirements as set out in the Standards.

 

.17     Verification audit or audit means the process of evaluating the Submitter's rules, self-assessment and supporting documentation to ascertain the validity and reliability of information. The purpose of the audit is to assess the conformity of the submitted rules with the Standards based on work done on a sampling basis.

 

.18     Validation means the act of examining methodologies, assessments, procedures, hypothesis or criteria used in requirements or calculations in order to make them acceptable.

 

.19     Benchmarking means the act of measuring the performance of methodologies, assessments, criteria and requirements by using indicators that can be compared with an accepted standard or with experimental and/or service history data, performance levels or outcomes known to be reliable.

 

.20     Rule change means any text change to an existing rule or rule set already verified as conforming to the Standards.

 

.21     Categorization of rule changes means assigning a new rule or rule change to one of the following categories for the purpose of maintenance of verification:

 

Category	Designation	Explanation
1	Corrigenda and follow-up change	Editorial corrigenda; or rule changes reflecting amendments to IMO mandatory instruments
2	Minor change	Change or deletion of a rule requirement or addition of new requirements not belonging to categories 1 or 3
3	Major change	Change of basic methodology or technology or basic assumptions, e.g. changing the basis for load determination; introduction of new technologies which will require change of permissible values (acceptance criteria), etc.

 

PART A

VERIFICATION PROCESS

 

Scope of verification

 

6          This part establishes the procedures to be followed in order to verify that rules for the design and construction of bulk carriers and/or oil tankers conform to the Standards. The verification process consists of two main elements: self-assessment of the rules by the Submitter and an audit of the rules, the self-assessment and the supporting documentation by the Organization.

 

Initial verification

 

Initiation

 

7          Any Administration or recognized organization wishing to have its rules verified as conforming to the Standards should initiate the process with a letter to the Secretary-General, requesting a verification audit of their rules. The letter should be accompanied by a complete technical documentation package (see paragraph 10) and a supporting letter from an Administration that has recognized the Submitter, if applicable.

 

8          The Secretary-General notifies the Submitter of his decision to accept or reject the request and, if accepted, advises the expected date for establishment of the GBS audit team (the Team) to audit the submission. If the request is rejected, the Secretary-General will include the reason for doing so.

 

9          The Submitter may withdraw the application at any time prior to consideration by the Maritime Safety Committee.

 

Submission

 

10        The Submitter should provide a technical documentation package for review in electronic form in English (to each member of the Team and the Secretariat), including:

 

.1       the rule set to be verified as conforming to the Standards;

 

.2       all items listed under information and documentation requirements in part B of these Guidelines which are not included in .1 above and are included in the internal quality management system or the rule development process as applicable;

 

.3       a self-assessment, addressing all items listed under information and documentation requirements and evaluation criteria in part B of these Guidelines;

 

.4       a clear indication of any instance where a functional requirement, or portions of it, are satisfied by IMO mandatory instruments that are not part of the submitted rules (e.g. SOLAS or MARPOL requirements);

 

.5       any other documentation which, in the Submitter's opinion, supports their assessment that the rules conform to the Standards;

 

.6       a completed Submission Template (see appendix 1);

 

.7       a clear indication of any confidential and/or proprietary information submitted with the documentation package; and

 

.8       in case a Submitter uses third-party rules, procedures and technical documentation, the following should be submitted in addition to sub-paragraphs .1 to .7 above:

 

.1       a clear statement that the use of such rules, procedures and technical documentation does not infringe any copyright material;

 

.2       clear procedures, as part of the internal quality management system, for the regular review and continuous improvement of the submitted rules, procedures and technical documentation; and

 

.3       details of processes, procedures and associated documentation that ensure proper monitoring and implementation of the third-party rules.

 

Audit process

 

11          The initial verification audit (audit) is an iterative process based on the following steps:

 

.1       the Secretary-General verifies that the submitted technical documentation package includes all of the elements specified in paragraph 10;

 

.2       the Secretary-General establishes the GBS audit team and forwards the request for audit and technical documentation package to the Team with the instructions given in paragraph 12;

 

.3       the Team reviews the information, confirms completeness of the documentation submitted, exchanges views and establishes an audit plan;

 

.4       the Team conducts the audit;

 

.5       the Team prepares an interim audit report for the Submitter that contains the preliminary findings of the audit, requests for additional information as needed, and possible non-conformities, using the report format specified in appendix 2. Where the Team has identified a possible non-conformity, they should explain the reasons for reaching that conclusion;

 

.6       upon receipt of the interim report, the Submitter may respond by submitting additional documentation through the IMO Secretariat to the Team to address the reported non-conformities and/or requests for additional information;

 

.7       the Team prepares a final audit report with a recommendation, using the report format specified in appendix 2, and provides it to the Secretary-General with a copy to the Submitter. Where the Team has identified an unresolved non-conformity, they should explain the reasons for reaching that conclusion;

 

.8       the Submitter should prepare corrective action plans to address any non-conformities reported by the Team and submit them to the Secretary-General;

 

.9       the Team reviews the corrective action plans and sends its recommendation to the Secretary-General; and

 

.10     the Team's comments and suggestions related to the audit process should be submitted in a separate report to the Secretary-General.

 

12        The Team is expected to conduct an audit to determine whether the submitted rules conform to the Tier I goals and each of the Tier II functional requirements, based on the criteria in part B of the Guidelines. In undertaking this task, the Team should exercise their professional judgement in determining the depth of the audit.

 

13        Where the Submitter can clearly indicate that a functional requirement, or portions of it, are covered by IMO mandatory instruments (e.g. SOLAS or MARPOL requirements), but are not part of the submitted rules, the Team should accept this as part of the verification, provided that it does not affect other covered functional requirements. Mandatory IMO instruments used to satisfy functional requirements should be applied in a manner consistent with IMO interpretations.

 

14        Timescales for the initial verification audit process should be agreed between the Secretary-General, the Team and the Submitter at an early stage. Deviations to agreed timescales can be considered by the Secretary-General upon timely request.

 

Appeal

 

15        The Submitter, through their supporting Administration, can appeal a finding of the GBS audit team to the Secretary-General. Notification of intent to appeal must be made within 30 days after receiving the Team's final audit report. The appeal request should follow within six months of the notification with the documentation to support the appeal request. After the supporting documentation is received, the Secretary-General should establish an appeal board, independent of the original Team, to adjudicate the request. This appeal board should be comprised of three or five members and be selected by the Secretary-General from the same list of experts described in paragraph 37. These members should not have participated in the Team that conducted the audit that is being appealed.

 

Approval

 

16        The Secretary-General forwards the final audit report of the Team, any corrective action plans, supplemented by any appeal report and any auditors' recommendations on the corrective action plans, if applicable, to the Committee for consideration and final decision.

 

17        Ships contracted for construction to any new rules or rule changes to rules already verified as conforming to the Standards may be deemed to meet the Standards until a final decision is made by the Committee.

 

18        The Committee considers the submission from the Secretary-General, with a view to confirming that the information provided by the Submitter demonstrates that the rules conform to the Standards.

 

19        Where non-conformities have been found and corrective action plans have been submitted, the rules and/or the documentation should be revised as necessary and the documentation to demonstrate rectification of non-conformities according to the agreed corrective action plans should be submitted for audit (see paragraphs 26.1, 27.1 and 27.3). During this process, ships contracted for construction to any new rules or rule changes to rules already verified as conforming to the Standards may be deemed to meet the Standards until a final decision is made by the Committee unless the Committee agrees that there is a non-conformity that compromises safety.

 

20        Upon final decision by the Committee, the Secretary-General notifies the relevant Administration and recognized organization as to whether the submitted rules conform to the Tier I goals and Tier II functional requirements of the Standards. In the case of non-conformity, the notification letter should include specific details to support the determination of non-conformity.

 

21        The Secretary-General circulates the results of successful verifications to Member Governments by appropriate means and maintains a list of all rule sets that have been verified for conformity as well as the original copy of the documentation package submitted.

 

Common submissions by groups of Submitters

 

22        Where documentation is common to more than one recognized organization or Administration, Submitters may make a request to the Secretary-General to submit a single package containing all the common documents.

 

23        Individual recognized organizations and Administrations should also submit their own documentation demonstrating how the common documents have been incorporated into their own requirements. The individual package should also include any additional information which is relevant to the audit. For an initial audit, the individual submission should be supported by an Administration which has recognized the Submitter, as required by paragraph 7.

 

24        Supporting Administrations should receive from the individual Submitter a copy of any common submission made on behalf of the recognized organization they are supporting.

 

25        The Secretary-General may establish a separate Team to evaluate the common submission. If such a team is established, it should liaise with the Team that is considering the individual submissions to ensure that findings identified in the individual package that are related to the common package are addressed.

 

Maintenance of verification

 

26        The addition of new rules or changes to rules already verified as conforming to the Standards may be introduced as a result of:

 

.1       the application of corrective actions emanating from previous verification audits; or

 

.2       a continuous improvement process, which may take into account the experience gained and the due consideration by the Administration or the recognized organization the rules of which have been verified as conforming to the Standards, which also includes the addressing of observations stemming from previous verification audits.

 

27        Addition of new rules or changes to rules already verified as conforming to the Standards should be processed as follows:

 

.1       if they are as a result of paragraph 26.1 above, each Submitter should notify and make available any new rules or rule changes, including the necessary documentation regarding the completion of corrective actions for the non-conformities reported, to the Secretary-General and to all Administrations that have recognized them. The notification should include, at least (see also appendix 3):

 

.1       an extract from the original rule linkage summary table related to the non-conformity;

 

.2       a copy of the text of the original non-conformity;

 

.3       an explanation of the investigation related to the non-conformity;

 

.4       a copy of the detailed action plan applied, including how the non-conformity has been rectified and any impact of the corrective actions;

 

.5       a self-assessment (rule linkage) addressing all non-conformities; and

 

.6       any supporting documentation, e.g. rule change proposals, updated technical background documents, changed procedures, etc.

 

.2       If they are as a result of paragraph 26.2 above, at least annually, each recognized organization whose rules have been verified as conforming to the Standards should make available any new rules or rule changes, including any errata, corrigenda or clarifications, to the Secretary-General and to all Administrations that have recognized them. The Secretary-General should also be provided with a rule commentary. All changes should be listed in the rule commentary including their categorization as per paragraph 5.21 and, for categories 2 and 3 changes, the rule commentary must clearly indicate the impact of the changes on conformity with the Standards of those rules already verified. The commentary should include, but not be limited to:

 

.1       an explanation of why the changes were considered necessary, including a description of the issues under consideration;

 

.2       the extent to which the changes address the issues under consideration;

 

.3       an explanation of the way the rules were formulated/drafted;

 

.4       an indication of any impact on and/or contribution to safety, security or environmental protection; and

 

.5       an indication of any impact on net and gross scantlings.

 

.3       The Organization should audit all new rules and rule changes received per sub-paragraph .1 above. To such an extent, the new rules, rule changes and the necessary documentation should be submitted in a timely manner. The Secretary-General should establish a Team accordingly and forward the compilation of new rules and changes received per sub-paragraph .1 to it for consideration. The Team should conduct a preliminary review of the new rules and changes, exchange views and establish an audit plan. The Team conducts the audit and prepares a verification audit report with a recommendation and provides it to the Secretary-General with a copy to the Submitter. Where the Team has identified a non-conformity or an unresolved non-conformity, it should explain the reasons for reaching that conclusion. The findings of the Team should be forwarded by the Secretary-General to the Committee for further consideration and final disposition at the earliest opportunity after the Committee session that had considered the final audit report and had decided upon conformity. The Secretary-General should notify the relevant Submitter(s) as to whether the non-conformity has been rectified.

 

.4       The Organization should review and audit the rule changes received per sub-paragraph .2 every three years. The Secretary-General should establish a Team and forward the compilation of annual changes received per sub-paragraph .2 to it for consideration. Using their professional judgement, the team should conduct a review of all the changes taking into account the information submitted, particularly the Submitters' categorization of the rule changes and the impact assessment, exchange views and establish an audit plan. Category 3 changes should be subject to audit; category 2 changes may require an audit depending on the impact of the change; category 1 changes need not be audited unless the team deems it necessary. The Team should provide the audit plan to the Secretary-General for submission to the Committee, and to the Submitters for information.

          The Team conducts the audit and prepares a maintenance of verification audit report with a recommendation and provides it to the Secretary-General. Where the Team has identified a non-conformity, it should explain the reasons for reaching that conclusion. The findings of the Team should be forwarded by the Secretary-General to the Committee for further consideration and final disposition.

 

.5       When an Administration considers a new rule or rule change described in sub-paragraph .2 above to result in non-conformity with the Standards, it may request the Secretary-General to conduct a review of the rule or the change, respectively. The request should include supporting justification why such a review is necessary. The Secretary-General should establish a Team to assess the request of the Administration and the impact of the change(s) on conformity with the Standards, and then assess the necessity of conducting an audit, regardless of the three-year cycle. The recommendations of the Team should be forwarded to the Committee by the Secretary-General, along with the request from the Administration and supporting documentation, for further consideration and final disposition.

 

.6       The Submitter may request the Secretary-General to conduct a review of the rule or the change, respectively. The request should include supporting justification why such a review is necessary. The Secretary-General should establish a Team to assess the request of the Submitter and the impact of the change(s) on conformity with the Standards, and then assess the necessity of conducting an audit, regardless of the three-year cycle. The recommendations of the Team should be forwarded to the Committee by the Secretary-General, along with the request from the Submitter and supporting documentation, for further consideration and final disposition.

 

.7       Any Administration the rules of which have been verified against the Standards should be subject to the process described in sub-paragraphs .1 to .5 above, as applicable.

 

.8       Rules should be considered to be in conformity unless sub-paragraphs .3, .4 or .5 above result in non-conformities. During the subsequent process ships contracted for construction to the revised rules may be deemed to meet the Standards.

 

Rectification of non-conformities after initial or maintenance audits

 

28        Where non-conformities are identified and corrective action plans submitted, the Submitter should prepare a further submission to demonstrate that the non-conformity has been rectified.

 

29        The submission should contain the following information (see also appendix 3):