USCG bulletin re procedural clarification of ISM Code
USCG has issued Bulletin to provide procedural clarification, which should be followed when submittingreports in accordance with Clause 3.1 of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code to the U.S. CoastGuard.
Under Company Responsibilities and Authority, Clause 3.1 stipulates “if the entity who is responsiblefor the operation of the ship is other than the owner, the owner must report the full name and details of suchentity to the Administration.”
For U.S. Flag ships to which Chapter I of SOLAS applies, either throughregulation or policy, this report should be filed in conjunction with the corresponding amendments to theContinuous Synopsis Record (CSR) (Chapter XI-1.4.2).
The term Company as used in the ISM Code and referenced by SOLAS Regulation XI-1.3.8 is synonymouswith that defined in Regulation IX/1; whereby, “Company means the owner of the ship or any otherorganization or person such as the manager, or the bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility foroperation of the ship from the shipowner and who, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over allduties and responsibility imposed by the International Safety Management Code.”
Accordingly, as thisCompany information is similarly reflected and updated on the CSR, the notification of changes may be filedconcurrently.For U.S. Flag ships, the CSR is issued by the Coast Guard’s CSR Desk located at the National VesselDocumentation Center.
For initial issuance, vessel owners/operators must complete the form “Application forContinuous Synopsis Record” – (CG-6039), supplemented by the Clause 3.1 notification, and forward it to theCSR Desk. To amend a ship’s CSR, owners/operators must complete the form “Amendments to the ContinuousSynopsis Record” – (CG-6038A), supplemented by the Clause 3.1 notification, and forward it to the CSR Desk. View contanct information here
The CSR Desk will evaluate the Amendment and append the Clause 3.1 notification to the ship’s file asappropriate. An additional or duplicate notification to Commandant (CG-CVC) is not necessary, if anotification is filed in accordance with these provisions. Additional notifications to the cognizant OCMI and/orthe recognized classification society(ies) may be necessary to facilitate the amendment of other requiredCertificates.
Source: USCG