Singapore has accepted IMO’s amendments to the Convention, regarding the size of the IMO Council, the term of its Council Members, and the language texts.
More specifically, the amendments to the IMO Convention, which were adopted by the IMO Assembly on 8 December 2021:
- Expand the size of the IMO Council from 40 to 52 Members;
- Extend the term of its Council Members from two to four years;
- Recognise three additional language texts as authentic versions of the IMO Convention.
Singapore supports the proposed amendments to the IMO Convention. These amendments recognise and reflect the need to build a more inclusive international maritime community to collectively address our common challenges. Singapore looks forward to fellow IMO Member States accepting these amendments
Teo Eng Dih, Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said.
Expansion of the Council
Upon entry into force of these proposed Council reforms, the IMO Council will increase by 12 Member States, from its current 40 Members to 52. Expanding the size of the IMO Council would see 12 seats allocated to Categories (a) and (b) each and 28 seats to Category (c).
The categories are:
- A – States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services
- B – States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade each;
- C – States not elected under (a) or (b) above, which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world.
Member term length
Council Members would remain in their roles until the end of the next two consecutive regular sessions of the Assembly, after which they would be eligible for re-election.
Since Assemblies are usually held every two years, this would generally mean that Members would serve a four-year term.
Additional authentic languages
Furthermore, the IMO Assembly adopted an amendment to the IMO Convention, such that Arabic, Chinese and Russian will be added as authentic texts of the IMO Convention, supplementing the current authentic texts in English, French and Spanish.
Current Council Members
The current Council Members elected for the 2020-2021 biennium are:
- Category (a): China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States.
- Category (b): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
- Category (c): Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey.
