Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore issued a marine circular concerning the use of electronic record books under the International Convention for the prevention of pollution from Singapore-registered vessels.
In fact, the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), at its 74th session, adopted amendments to MARPOL Annex I, II, V and VI, and the 2009 NOX Technical Code via resolutions MEPC.314(74), MEPC.316(74) and MEPC.317(74) in order to enable the use of electronic record books on board ships.
The above mentioned amendments will enter into force on 1 October 2020.
What is more, the MEPC adopted resolution MEPC.312(74) on Guidelines for the use of electronic record books under MARPOL.
SRS are permitted to use electronic record books under MARPOL after entry into force of the MARPOL amendments. The electronic record books shall comply with resolution MEPC.312(74), as may be amended.
Shipowners and managers who use electronic record books on board their ships should ensure that their crew are familiar with the use, maintenance and safekeeping of the electronic record books.
Moreover, the electronic record book shall only be officially used after the ship is issued with a “Declaration of Electronic Record Book”.
As there will be ports that may not accept the use of electronic record books, SRS calling to these ports should maintain appropriate hardcopy MARPOL records.
Printouts of electronic records are accepted by the Administration as “certified true copies” of the entries made in the electronic record book, provided that each entry is physically signed by the Officer in Charge and each completed page is physically signed by the Master.
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