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The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea(SOLAS), 1974 in its present form is the most widely followedInternational convention relating to ships. It is also consideredto be one of the most important legal instruments governing safetyof ships, which particularly specifies minimum standards for theconstruction, equipment and operation of ships.

Conventions and other multilateral instruments createinternational treaty obligations. Governments which ratify oraccept them agree to bring their laws and measures into conformitywith the provisions of such treaties. The purpose of anyinternational instrument is to establish standards which areacceptable to as many countries as possible and be implementedglobally, thereby eliminating differences between nationalpractices. The International Maritime Organization came intoexistence in 1959. Since then the organisation adopted multilateraltreaties on a number of subjects concerned especially with thesafety of shipping, the prevention of pollution from ships,compensation and liability and other matters such as facilitationand tonnage measurement. Most of these are called conventions but afew are referred to as protocols or agreements. However, theirlegal status is the same. When a proposal is formally agreed adraft of the treaty is then prepared in one of the Organization’sprincipal committees or sub-committees. When the draft is approvedby either the Maritime Safety Committee, the Marine EnvironmentProtection Committee or the Legal Committee it is submitted to anInternational Diplomatic Conference to which all members of theUnited Nations and its specialised agencies are invited. With thesuccessful adoption of the Convention, the onus for action moves toGovernments. The speed with which the convention enters into force(that is, becomes binding on States which have agreed to be boundby it) depends upon the time taken by Governments to ratify oraccept it. The consent to be bound may be expressed by signature,ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, depending on thewish of the States concerned. This procedure is generally referredto as "ratification". IMO treaties enter into force after aspecific number of States have ratified them with a certainproportion of the world’s total tonnage. This ensures acceptance bymajority of shipping interest. After the requirements for entryinto force of a treaty have been achieved, there is a "period ofgrace" before it actually comes into force. This period varies froma few months to a year or even two years, and is designed to enablethe Governments concerned to take the necessary legislative oradministrative measures for implementing the provisions of theconvention.

The main responsibility for the enforcement of an internationaltreaty lies on the State under whose flag the ships concernedoperate. Basically each Government is responsible for ensuring thatships which fly its flag conform to the requirements of treatieswhich it has ratified. However, recent IMO treaties also containprovisions requiring States, particularly port States, to enforcethe requirements of the convention. This means that whether a shipflies the flag of a party to the convention or not it must complywith the requirements of a convention whenever it is calling in aport belonging to a party to the convention. InternationalOrganizations such as IMO have no authority or means to enforce orimplement conventions. The Organization’s role is to encourage theGovernments concerned to take the required measures. Wherenecessary, the Organization provides technical advice andassistance to Governments which may need such advice and assistancein taking the requisite action.