Available at BIMCO’s website
The US Anti-Drug Abuse Act 1986 Clause for Time Charter Parties has been revised.
The Clause was developed in response to the coming into force of the US Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which was the first important law in the US “war on drugs”. The original wording of the Clause contained two sub-clauses, the second of which required the owners and charterers to become signatories to the US Sea Carrier Initiative Agreement (SCIA), a voluntary drug smuggling prevention scheme for owners.
Although SCIA remains operational for BIMCO members, it has not been open to non-BIMCO members since 2006. As a consequence Sub-clause (b) is not valid since it does not make it clear that owners and charterers have to be BIMCO members to be signatories to SCIA.
In order to avoid non-members of BIMCO who are unable to avail themselves of the benefits of SCIA being in breach of the clause, it has been decided to delete Sub-clause (b) in its entirety. Sub-clause (a) remains intact and provides a useful allocation of contractual obligations and responsibilities in relation to the prevention of drug smuggling.
The revised Clause was adopted by the Documentary Committee at its meeting held on 27 May in Paris. The Clause, along with a short explanatory note, has now been issued by Special Circular No. 4 of 2 July 2013 and is available to download free of charge from the BIMCO website.
Source: BIMCO
