CONVENTION ON FACILITATION OF INTERNATIONAL MARITIME TRAFFIC

Intro.The CONVENTION ON FACILITATION OF INTERNATIONAL MARITIME TRAFFIC was held under the ages of IMO and was framed on the 9th April 1965.

Objectives To facilities maritime traffic by

simplifying and reducing to minimum the formalities, documentary requirement and procedures on arrival, stay and departure of ships engaged in international voyages.

The Governments undertake measures to ease international maritime traffic and to prevent unnecessary delays.

APPLICATIONS The convention applies to coastal and non coastal

states.

Do not apply to warships and pleasure yachts.

Nothing in the convention should be interpreted as conflicting with Government’s national laws or the provision of any other international agreement.

Nothing in the convention should be interpreted as precluding a contracting government from applying temporary measures considered by that government to be necessary to preserve public morality, order security or to prevent the introduction or spread of diseases or pests affecting public health, animals or plants.

The contents of the convention are in the form of:

1.Standards It measure the uniform application of which is

necessary and practicable.2. Recommended Measures the application of which is desirable

in order to facilitate maritime traffic.

Annex B of the convention is divided into 5 sections

SECTION 1Deals with definitions-cargo, crew’s effects,

crew members, public authorities, ship-owners, ships equipment, ship’s spare parts, ship’s stores and time of arrival.

Forms the ‘General Provisions'. For instance, the standard is that the public authorities should call only for essential information and the recommended practice is that two or more documents should be combined into one, when an appreciable degree of facilitation would result.

SECTION 2: ARRIVAL, STAY AND DEPARTURE OF THE SHIP

The sections deals with the formalities required form ship-owners by the public authorities on the arrival, stay and departure of the ship.

The standard is that the authorities should only call for the following documents:

1. General declaration.2. Cargo declaration.3. Ships stores declaration. 4. Crews effects declaration. 5. Crew list.6. Passenger list.7. The documents required under the universal postal

convention for mail.8. Maritime declaration of health.

Section 2© and 2 (d) deal with the number of documents on arrival and departure.

1. General declaration.

2. Cargo declaration.3. Ships stores

declaration. 4. Crews effects

declaration. 5. Crew list.6. Passenger list7. Maritime

declaration of health.

Arrival Departure

5 5 4 4

4 3

2 -

4 2 4 2 1 0

Section 2E It deals with the measures to facilitate

clearance of cargo, passengers, crew, and baggage.

Section 2F It suggests that if the ports of calls are two

or more in the same state, formalities at the second port should be kept minimum.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE OF PERSONS(SECTION 3) The passport should be taken as the valid

document relating to individuals. The same should be check once on arrival and

once on departure and handed back immediately after examination.

The section also provides in details, of information which the public authorities can at best require in the embarkation and disembarkation of card.

In case where evidence of protection against cholera, yellow fever or small pox is required from persons on board of ship, public authority shall accept the international certificate of vaccination or re- vaccination in the forms provided for in the international sanitary regulations.

PUBLIC HEALTH AND QUARANTINE INCLUDING SANITARY MEASURES FOR ANIMALS AND PETS. (Section 4)

Few of the recommended practices includes

a) Simple documents to be widely published, required in shipments of certain animals, plants or product thereof.

b) Whenever practicable, pratique should be granted by radio.

c) As far as possible, health authority should join a ship prior to entry of ship into port.

d) Public authority should maintain at as many as ports as possible facilities for administration of public health, animal and agriculture quarantine measures.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS(Section 5)Provisions in the section cover the

security and services at ports.It also covers the aspects with regard

to facilitation of maritime traffic when cargo is not discharged at the intended destination.

Section 5(e) deals with the limitation of ship owners responsibilities. Some of these are:

I. A single comprehensive bond recommended for security for immigration, customs, public health, agricultural quarantine or similar laws.

II. There should be no detection to ships for errors in documents, which are inadvertent and the ship should be allow for sail after correction.

III. Services outside service hours should not exceed actual cost.