The Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance released the Policy Letter 17-09, “Issuance and Acceptance of Electronic Certificates,” in order to provide guidance for the issuance and acceptance of certain electronic certificates to U.S. flag vessels and foreign-flagged vessels trading in U.S. waters subject to Port State Control.
According to the policy letter, it authorizes and states the conditions under which Authorized Classification Societies (ACSs) and Recognized Organizations (ROs) may issue electronic certificates to U.S. flag vessels as well as the conditions under which they will be accepted by the Coast Guard for foreign vessels subject to Port State Control Exams in the United States.
Nothing in this policy letter requires a vessel owner, operator, ACS or RO to request or issue electronic certificates.
Prior to this, Contracting Governments and Recognized Organizations authorized to act on their behalf, have issued signed paper certificates to document compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) instruments.
However, because these paper certificates were subject to loss or damage and could be impractical to send to globally-trading vessels, someContracting Governments pioneered the use of electronic certificates.
Albeit this development, these Administrations experienced instances of Port State Control interventions where the validity of electronic certificates, including printed versions of the certificates, was questioned by the PSCO.
The IMO developed FAL.5/Circ.39 Rev.2 “Guidelines for the Use of Electronic Certificates” to standardize features to both alleviate the problems inherent in reliance on paper certificates and provide a mechanism for verifying authenticity of electronic certificates.
“For example, an electronic certificate could be as simple as a signed, scanned, and printed document or as complex as a totally digital version viewed on the issuer’s website. IMO’s FAL.5/Circ.39 Rev.2 is intended to address the full range of options for creating, issuing, and viewing electronic certificates,” USCG reports.
You can view the new Policy Letter 17-09, “Issuance and Acceptance of Electronic Certificates,” in the link below
