The auditing of IMO Member States to assess how effectively they administer key IMO instruments is an important part of the Organization’s work to create a regulatory framework for the shipping industry that is universally adopted and implemented.
To support this process, new audit team leaders are being trained under IMO’s Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS) at a course being held at IMO Headquarters, London (6-10 November). The course involves thirteen auditors* who have been part of audit teams under the Scheme in 2016 and 2017 and are now ready to act as audit team leaders in future audits.
The training addresses an increased demand for audit team leaders to conduct up to 25 audits of Member States per year, which became mandatory from January 2016 and are carried out in accordance with the overall audit schedule. The course has been designed to further develop skills in preparing, conducting and reporting from audits in accordance with the Framework and Procedures for the IMO Member State Audit Scheme (resolution A.1067(28)) and using the IMO Instruments Implementation (III) Code (resolution A.1070(28)) as the audit standard.
The course is the second to take place since the introduction of the Audit Scheme. To-date, 40 mandatory audits have been carried out, with a further 22 planned for 2018. All Member States are required to undergo a mandatory audit within the 7-years audit cycle - in accordance with the Scheme.
* Auditors nominated by: Canada, Cyprus, France, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Norway, Peru, Poland, Sweden and UK