Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic

Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, 1965 Adoption: 9 April 1965 Entry into force: 5 March 1967 Since the early 1900s, the requirements of statisticians and the everincreasing sophistication of the shipping industry led to an increase in the number of national authorities taking an interest in the call of ships and personnel at ports. By the 1950s, the lack of internationally standardized documentation procedures was imposing a heavy and increasing burden upon the industry's personnel, both shipborne and ashore and caused considerable delays. To deal with these problems, IMO began work on these problems soon after its inception and in 1965 the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic was adopted. The Convention's main objectives are

to prevent unnecessary delays in maritime traffic, to aid cooperation between Governments, and to secure the highest practicable degree of uniformity in formalities and other procedures.

The Annex to the Convention contains provisions relating to the arrival, stay and departure of ships and persons, health and quarantine, and sanitary measures for plants and animals. These provisions are divided into Standards and Recommended Practices, and the documents which should be required by Governments are listed. The 1973 amendments Adoption: November 1973 Entry into force: 2 June 1984 Amendments to the Annex were adopted in 1969 and 1977 and entered into force in 1971 and 1978 respectively. However, major improvements to the Convention were rendered virtually impossible by the cumbersome amendment procedure which required the positive acceptance of more than 50 per cent of Contracting Parties. The 1973 amendments introduced the "tacit acceptance" procedure included in many other IMO conventions. The 1986 amendments Adoption: 7 March 1986 Entry into force: 1 October 1986 The new "tacit acceptance" procedure made it possible to update the Convention speedily and the 1986 amendments were designed primarily to reduce "red tape" and in particular to enable automatic data processing techniques to be used in shipping documentation. The 1987 amendments Adoption: September 1987 Entry into force: 1 January 1989 The amendments simplify the documentation required by ships including crew lists, and also facilitate the movement of ships engaged in disaster relief work and similar activities.

The May 1990 amendments Adoption: May 1990 Entry into force: 1 September 1991 The amendments revise several recommended practices and add others dealing with drug trafficking and the problems of the disabled and elderly. They encourage the establishment of national facilitation Committees and also cover stowaways and traffic flow arrangements. The 1992 amendments Adoption: 1 May 1992 Entry into force: 1 September 1993 The amendments concern the Annex to the Convention and deal with the following subjects:

electronic data processing/electronic data interchange (EDP/EDI) private gift packages and trade samples consular formalities and fees submission of preimport information clearance of specialized equipment falsified documents

The annex was also restructured. The 1993 amendments Adoption: 29 April 1993 Entry into force: 1 September 1994 The amendments are to the Annex to the Convention. They deal with un manifested parcels and the handling of stowaways. The 1996 amendments Adoption: 1 January 1996 Entry into force: 1 May 1997 The amendments concern

the passenger list, national facilitation committees, inadmissible persons, immigration pre-arrival clearance, pre-import information and cruise passengers.