There is still time to register for the HNS Workshop.

IOPC Funds

Dear Blog readers,

As you know from the final message posted by Francois Marier last October, the HNS Correspondence Group has finished its work and delivered on all its planned outcomes.

The last of them is in fact going to be delivered very soon in the form of a workshop that has been organised by IMO in cooperation with the IOPC Funds and which will take place on 26-27 April 2018 at the IMO HQ.

It is still possible to register for the workshop via the IMO website and I recommend that you use this opportunity to attend and contribute to its success.

A number of interesting developments have been taking place over the last year, including the first ratification by Norway, the European Council Decision asking European Member States to accede to the 2010 HNS Convention and the information we get from a number of States showing progress towards ratification. In fact we expect some to take place in the next weeks!

This Blog, although first established to facilitate communication among the members of the Correspondence Group, will continue to be available moving forward. We believe that having a platform where people can share information or ask questions could be useful for all readers and we will endeavor to provide answers whenever possible.

Finally, in order to make that tool more user-friendly, we are currently reviewing the setup and we’ll keep you posted of any developments.

Final message from Chairman of Correspondence Group

Dear All,

I am writing this as the final message you will receive from me. As you no doubt are aware, the third report of Correspondence Group was presented at the 104^th session of the IMO Legal Committee on April 26-28, 2017.

The Legal Committee thanked the Correspondence Group for all of its work over the years and agreed to the following:

1. to approve the HNS Incident Scenarios presentation;
2. to approve a revised draft IMO Assembly resolution on the implementation and entry into force of the 2010 HNS Protocol;
3. to hold a two-day workshop based on the draft programme in conjunction with LEG 105 (i.e. April 2018);
4. that further regional and other meetings will be considered in relation to the thematic priorities for technical cooperation; and,
5. to wind-up the HNS Correspondence Group.

It was my pleasure to work with each of you and I wish to thank you for your interest and input. I would also like to thank the IMO, IOPC Funds, ITOPF and the International Group of P&I Clubs for their assistance in developing the various products for the Correspondence Group. It is my hope that we can continue to collaborate in the future.

I hope to see many of you at the HNS workshop in April 2018 and wish you all the best in your continued work.

The HNS Incident Scenarios presentation is available here and links have been posted on both the IMO and HNS Convention’s websites:

http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Legal/HNS/Pages/HNSConvention.aspx

http://www.hnsconvention.org/resources/

Finally, the HNS Blog will be renamed and will continue to be maintained by the IOPC Funds as a means for those interested as a tool to provide updates on implementation and ratification processes as well as asking questions and seeking further information.

Kind regards

François Marier

Report of the Correspondence Group to the Legal Committee

Dear Members of the Correspondence Group,

Please note that the report of the Correspondence Group to the Legal Committee is now available on IMO DOCS. A copy is available here for your ease of reference.

Regards,

François Marier

Draft Report of the HNS Correspondence Group

Dear Members of the Correspondence Group,

Please find here the draft report for submission to the 104^th session of the Legal Committee. Please note that the presentation will be inserted at Annex 2.

I apologize for sending this to you so late, however the deadline for submitting the report is Tuesday, January 24^th. Should you have any comments on the document, please provide them to me by Monday, January 23^rd.

Best regards,

 

François Marier

HNS Incident Scenarios Presentation

Dear Members of the Correspondence Group,

The first item in the mandate of the Correspondence Group is to develop a presentation for the consideration of the Legal Committee based on the outline that was presented at the Committee’s last session.

Following consultations with the IMO and IOPC Funds Secretariats, ITOPF and the IG of P&I, a draft has been developed and is available at this link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/61044109/MASTER_HNS%20Convention%20Scenarios_Draft%208_23122016.pptx

Due to the presentation’s size, we have made it available on Dropbox but it will be compressed in time for inclusion in the Correspondence Group’s report.

I would ask that you provide me any views by January 13 at the latest. I apologize for the short timelines but it took a long time to get the presentation ready for distribution. The deadline for submitting the Correspondence Group’s report is January 24 and thus I hope to complete the substantial work before finalizing the report.

Regards,

François Marier

Draft Resolution on the HNS Protocol

Dear Members of the Correspondence Group,

Thank you to those who replied and provided comments.

Specifically, I would like to thank Ms. Olsen of Denmark for her revisions in the text of the Resolution and there was support for those modifications to the Resolution. This includes removing what was the second operative paragraph as it was repetitive and not to single out certain states.  Please provide any further comments on the revised draft Resolution by January 11.

François Marier

 

Programme for HNS Workshop

 

Dear Members of the Correspondence Group,

Thank you again to all those who provided me with comments and suggestions. These were very helpful in developing a draft programme.

Some of the key points that should guide the workshop are as follows:

• it be useful for participants and practical information on the national implementation and collection of HNS reports;
• the speakers and panelists be those experts directly involved in the national implementation  with the bulk of the workshop spent on this issue;
• the industry have an opportunity to provide views as well as key information such as an actual case study of a past HNS incident from the claims perspective;
• there be an interactive portion of the workshop;
• it be scheduled back-to-back with another relevant international meeting where those experts would likely attend; and
• one day was likely sufficient time.

In light of this, I have developed a draft programme for the workshop for your consideration. With the overwhelming preference being that it be held in conjunction with another international meeting, given that the Legal Committee would be considering this in April 2017, the earliest opportunity would be the same week as the IOPC Funds meeting the week of October 23, 2017. I have confirmed with the IOPC Funds that the intent is for those meetings to run for four days, thus the workshop could take place on the Friday of that week.

I would ask that you please provide any views on the draft programme by December 9 at the latest.

Best regards,

François Marier

Programme for HNS Workshop

Dear Members of the Correspondence Group,

I had provided you an update in August indicating that we would try an circulate a draft of the HNS Incident Scenarios draft presentation by the end of September. However, that will not be possible and further work is needed on the presentation before we can circulate it. We will aim to do so by the end of October.

In the meantime, I would like to seek your views and input on the third item in the Correspondence Group’s mandate, which is to develop a draft programme for a workshop for consideration by the Legal Committee.

As a starting point, I would point you to two documents that have previously been submitted to the Legal Committee:

1. Document LEG 102/3/2 which reports on a workshop held in October 2014 in Rome, Italy (see Annex 1 of document)
2. Document LEG 103/3/3 which reports on a workshop held in March 2016 in Montreal, Canada (see Annex 1 of document).

It is my view that a two day workshop would be most ideal for participants in order to get the information needed and make it worthwhile attending.

Thus, I would ask, if you could provide me with any views on:

• Length and format of the workshop
• Topics and issues to be covered in the sessions
• Suggestions for presenters and panelists

Please provide me these views by October 28, 2016.

Best regards.

François Marier

HNS Correspondence Group Update

Dear Members of the HNS Correspondence Group,

As you are no doubt aware by now, the IMO Legal Committee, at its 103^rd session in June, extended the Correspondence Group’s mandate until it’s next session, currently scheduled for April 2017. However, the mandate of the Correspondence Group has been limited to the following three items:

The terms of reference for the HNS Correspondence Group are as follows:

 

1. to develop three specific items:

• presentation on HNS Incident Scenarios (PowerPoint) for approval by the Committee;
• draft resolution on implementation and entry into force of the 2010 HNS Protocol; and
• programme for a workshop for consideration by the Committee.

2. to report to the 104th session of the Legal Committee.

Work on the first item, the HNS Incident Scenarios is well underway and will be in line with the outline that was approved by the Legal Committee and presented in document LEG103/3/2.

It is expected that a draft PowerPoint presentation will be ready for circulation within the Correspondence Group by the end of September. I also expect to be able to advance drafts of the other two items before the end of the 2016 calendar year. We will also continue to the HNS Blog as part of our communications.

Thank you again for your continued interest on the HNS Convention and I look forward to working with you.

Best regards,

François Marier

Draft Resolution on the HNS Convention

Dear members of the Correspondence Group,

I am pleased to circulate a draft paper and resolution for your consideration that is intended to be submitted for the upcoming meeting of the IMO Legal Committee in June. This resolution is part of the mandate of the Correspondence Group and strongly urges key states to take the steps necessary to implement the HNS Convention domestically and to collaborate in bringing it into force. It suggests a realistic timeframe to get the much needed critical mass.

This draft resolution is also complimentary to the draft decision current before the European Parliament.

I would ask you to please kindly review the resolution and its accompanying paper and provide any comments to me by April 22nd. Given the nature of the resolution, it would be important to have key states co-sponsor the paper. An indication of this is also due on April 22nd. The deadline for submitting it to the IMO is April 26th.

Best regards,

François Marier