The International Association of Class Societies (IACS) says it has the support of the major shipping industry representative bodies in its row with the European Commission which is pressing for mutual recognition of equipment certificates by class societies. IACS says its claims that mutual recognition of equipment certificates issued by class will reduce safety are supported by shipowners, shipbuilders and marine insurance. It says that IACS Council met last week with leading representatives of international shipping and marine industry associations, including International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Intertanko and Intercargo, representing the shipowners, Committee for Excellence in Shipbuilding Standards (CESS) representing the shipbuilders and International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) and International Group of P&I Clubs representing marine insurance.
The European Commission is proposing a revision of Class Directive 94/57. In this, the European Union Recognised Organisations (ROs), namely 13 classification societies, some of which are non-IACS, shall agree on the conditions under which they will mutually recognize their respective class certificates, and this raises safety issues.
IACS says in a statement: “Mutual recognition" of certificates is not a recipe for enhanced safety. On the contrary, dilution and fragmentation of the certification responsibility will lead to reduced, not improved, safety of ship construction and operations. This fragmentation of responsibility is a major concern whenever something goes wrong.”