Skip to main content

Treaty Vs Convention Vs Protocol

Treaty:
  1. A treaty is a written international agreement between two states (a bilateral treaty) or between a number of states (a multilateral treaty), which is binding in international law.
  2. In relation to shipping matters, the chief international treaty-making bodies are an internationally accepted organization such as the United Nations or one of its agencies, such as IMO, ILO, WHO or ITU.
  3. A treaty normally enters into force in accordance with criteria incorporated into the treaty itself, e.g. 1 year after a stipulated number of states have acceded to it (by signature of a government representative).
  4. A treaty signed by a state government generally has no effect in the national law of the state until there has been an act of ratification or accession and the treaty has been incorporated by statute into the national law of the state.


Conventions:
  1. Means coming together for a common objective
  2. A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated, or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms, or criteria, often taking the form of a custom
  3. Earlier convention was regularly employed for bilateral agreements. Now convention is multilateral treaty documents and are the chief instruments of IMO being binding legal instrument regulating some aspects of maritime affairs of major concern of IMO.
  4. Conventions are identified by the name and year of adoption by the assembly. Eg: Marpol 73.
  5. They have technical/ provisions attached to annexes. Eg: Annexes in Marpol.
  6. They have technical provisions in an associated code. Eg: LSA code.


Protocol:
They are important treaty instruments made where major amendments are required to be made to a convention which, although already adopted has not yet entered in to force. Eg: Marpol 73/78. i.e, Marpol convention adopted in 1973
and protocol made in 1978 before it came into force.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Difference Between A, B & C-Class Divisions?

IMO Symbol A Class Division  IMO Symbol B Class Division  SOLAS has tables for structural fire protection requirement of bulkheads and decks. The requirements depend on the spaces in question and are different for passenger ships and cargo ships. The Administration has required a test of a prototype bulkhead or deck in accordance with the Fire Test Procedures Code to ensure that it meets the above requirements for integrity and temperature rise. Types of Divisions: "A" Class "B" Class "C" Class "A" Class: "A" class divisions are those divisions formed by bulkheads and decks which comply with the following criteria: They are constructed of steel or equivalent material They are suitably stiffened They are constructed as to be capable of preventing the passage of smoke and flame to the end of the one-hour standard fire test. they are insulated with approved non-combustible materials such that the average tempera...

Bilge Injection Valve

Bilge Injection is a valve that enables the engine room bilges to be pumped out directly overboard in the event of an emergency such as flooding. The valve is normally fitted to the end of a branch connection with the main sea water suction line. This enables large main seawater cooling pumps to be used as a bilge pump in an emergency. Emergencies like fire and flooding involve the use of seawater. If there is a fire, seawater is the biggest resource of water available in the sea. Similarly, if it involves flooding of the engine room, cargo spaces or any other place on the ship for that matter; you would again require pumping the sea water out of the ship. In both these cases, you require pumps.  There are two valves in close proximity namely main injection valve and bilge injection valve. Both of them have their own independent controls. The diameter of the bilge injection valve is kept nearly 66% of the main valve diameter which draws water directly from the sea th...

Load Line & Why it is Important

Merchant ships have a marking on their hull know as the Plimsoll line or the Plimsoll mark, which indicates the limit until which ships can be loaded with enough cargo, internationally, the Plimsoll line on a ship is officially referred to as the international load line. Every type of ship has a different level of floating and the Plimsoll line on a ship generally varies from one vessel to another.  All vessels of 24 meters and more are required to have this Load line marking at the centre position of the length of summer load water line. There are two types of Load line markings:- Standard Load Line marking – This is applicable to all types of vessels. Timber Load Line Markings – This is applicable to vessels carrying timber cargo. These marks shall be punched on the surface of the hull making it visible even if the ship side paint fades out. The marks shall again be painted with white or yellow colour on a dark background/black on a light background.  ...