Klaus Grensemann, Chairman, QACE presentation during the the 2015 GREEN4SEA Forum
QACE is the entity for the Quality and Certification of Organizations recognized by the European Union and was founded in November 2010 by 12 Recognized Organisations (ROs) at London. QACE is a relatively new entry in the market. Through performing an oversight over the ROs, it has some impact on general ship safety, the protection of the marine environment and on sustainable shipping. In his presentation the chairman of the board of directors illustrated the legal background, the partners, the way the entity performs its job and the means to achieve improvements
QACE consists a relatively new entry in the market. Clearly, it has some impact on general ship safety and on the protection of the marine environment and on sustainable shipping. In my presentation, I am following the outline scheme to illustrate the legal background, the partners, the way we are performing our job and on means to tell you about achievements and areas, where improvement is necessary or at least advisable.
QACE is not for sure a European entity and is by far not a subsidiary of IACS. It is the entity for the Quality and Certification of Organizations recognized by the EU and was founded in November 2010 by 12 Recognized Organisations (Classification Societies, ROs) at London.
Through the arrangement of an independent board of directors serving as a kind of a cofferdam or membrane between the operative part of the entity and the members, the ROs, the independence of the operative part, is ensured. QACE is not for Profit Company registered in England with an office in London. The members, on a daily basis, are in charge for the funding with an annual budget of half a million pounds sterling. QACE‘s job in principle is to police the members, which are recognized in the EU. The entities started its operation in the beginning of 2011.
International shipping is governed by a plethora of rules and regulations, safeguarding the safety at sea and unimpaired marine environment and a sustainable shipping in general. There are a lot of schemes and institutions monitoring the compliance with international laws, but almost all of them are covered by the activities of the classification societies.
As these societies have a key role in the safe operations of the ships, they are subject to the EU regulation 391 of 2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the 23rd April 2009. The basic principle for the Foundation and the operation of QACE is stipulated in article 11 of the regulation.
At the moment, there are 11 ROs members of the QACE, who are all IACS society. The Board of Directors consists of five members (Japan, People’s Republic of China, Greece, France and Germany). All members as a precondition should not have any current connection to any classification society. The staffs comprise and Executive Secretary and Administration Officer and for subcontracted assessors. The Executive Secretary and the Administration Officer are English and the assessors are from Taiwan, India, England and Germany.
QACE is truly international and the way, that it is organized, ascertains its independence from external influence and in particular from ROs, IACS and last, but not least the European Commission and its services, like EMSA.
The oversight over the classification societies’ quality, safety and pollution standards by internationally or recognized accredited certification bodies the so called ACP The individual societies’ offices and the field’s surveys are formally audited in accordance with ISO 9001 and a set of marine standards, which have been developed by IACS and named quality systems certification schemes. A prescribed number of these audits are randomly assessed by QACE. On average, thirty to forty assessments are conducted every year.
The final product of QACE’s activities would be a certificate assigned to the classification society performing to precede auditing standards. This jurisdiction stems from the EU regulation 391. At the moment, tripartite agreements are signed between QACE, the ROs and the relevant ACB’s to insure the contractual Foundation for the certification. By the end of the year, certificates will have been issued for all members.
The focus assessment areas for the current year resulting from the experiences gained during the previous years are among others the statutory certification and the accuracy of issued certificates. In the years before, our focus areas inter alia consisted of passenger ship, fire safety, mobile offshore units, lifeboat and life raft service suppliers and the MLC.
As result, an annual report is issued every year, which presents the context of the operations of the last year. Moreover, it contains recommendations to all members. Either collective recommendations or individual ones, given in private meetings, these meetings aren’t only private, but also confidential
Above article is an edited version of Klaus Grensemann’s presentation during the 2015 GREEN4SEA Forum
You may view his presentation video by clicking here
| Click here to view all the presentations on this GREEN4SEA Forum |
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About Klaus Grensemann
Chairman, QACE
Since November 2010 Klaus Grensemann is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Entity for the Quality Assessment and Certification of Organisations recognised by the European Union CIC (QACE). Before he joined QACE he served as the Head of the Maritime safety Division in the German Ministry for Transport. In that capacity he was head of the German delegation to IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) and a number of IMO Sub-Committees. He has been a Member State Representative of the Administrative Board of EMSA, Board member of the ship building research centre HSVA, member of the scientific advisory council of the German Institute of Navigation and member of the IACS Independent Appeals Board.
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