IACS Organisation

IACS Organisation

International Association of Classification Societies (IACS)

(www.iacs.org.uk)

IACS represents the worlds 10 largest classification societies.

Together, the IACS members set classification design,
construction and survey rules covering over 90% of the worlds
cargo-carrying tonnage.IACS is a key technical partner in the
network of international organisations that set and monitor
maritime regulations.
IACS activities are governed by the Code of Ethics and Charter,
copies of which are available to external parties upon request.

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IACS Organisation
IACS was founded on the 11th September 1968 by
American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
Bureau Veritas (BV)
Det norske Veritas (DNV)
Germanischer Lloyd (GL)
Lloyd's Register of Shipping (LR)
Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (NK)
Registro Italiano Navale (RINA)

1st November 1969

USSR Register of Shipping became a Member (RS)

1st October 1970

Polski Regestr Statkow became a Member (PRS)
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IACS Organisation

27th April 1973

Jugoslavenski Registar Brodova became an Associate (CRS)

1st September 1975

Korean Register of Shipping became an Associate (KR)

31st May 1988

China Classification Society became a Member (CCS)
Korean Register of Shipping became a Member (KR)

3rd December 1991

Indian Register of Shipping became an Associate (IRS)

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IACS Organisation

28th-29th May 1998

PRS became an Associate

1st June 2000

PRS was expelled from IACS following the loss of Leader L with 18 lives in March 2000

31 Dec 2004
CRS (Hrvatski Register Brodova) left the Association as part of the phase-out of the
Associate status

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IACS Organisation
International Association of Classification Societies (IACS)
10 Members:
ABS
BV
CCS
DNV
GL
KR
LR
NK
RINA
RS
1 Associate:
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IACS Organisation

International Association of Classification Societies (IACS)

Two explanatory documents:

Class in one page (CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES WHAT

THEY DO AND DO NOT DO)

Classification Societies (WHAT, WHY and HOW?)

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The mission of classification societies is to contribute to the
development and implementation of rules for the protection
of life, property and the environment.
Classification societies establish and apply technical
requirements for the design, construction and survey of
marine-related facilities, principally ships and offshore
structures. These requirements are published as
classification rules.
All classification surveys are carried out by qualified
surveyors using mainly visual examination and sampling
techniques. They do not consist of comprehensive
verification or monitoring.
Classification societies may also act as Recognised
Organisations for Flag States, verifying the ships compliance
with international and/or national statutory regulations.
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IACS Organisation

A classification society does not design, build, own, operate,

manage, maintain, repair, finance,insure or charter ships.
Proper and effective construction depends upon the designer
and shipbuilder doing their jobs properly.
Safe operation and maintenance of a ship for its intended
service depends principally upon the shipowner, the
shipowners representatives and the crew who operate,
manage and maintain the ship on a day to day basis.
Classification societies are not guarantors of safety of life or
property at sea or the seaworthiness of a ship because the
classification society has no control over how a ship is
operated and maintained in between the periodic surveys
which it conducts.
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Implementing the published rules, the classification process consists of:
A technical review of the design plans and related documents for a new ship to
verify compliance with the applicable rules;
Attendance at the construction of the ship in the shipyard by a classification
society surveyor(s), and at the relevant production facilities that provide key
components such as the steel, engine, generators and castings, to verify that the
ship is constructed in accordance with the classification rules;
Upon satisfactory completion of the above, the shipowners request for the
issuance of a class certificate will be considered by the relevant classification
society and, if deemed satisfactory, the assignment of class will be approved and a
certificate of classification issued;
Once in service, the owner must submit the ship to a clearly specified program of
periodical class surveys, carried out onboard the ship, to verify that the ship
continues to meet the relevant rule conditions for continuation of class.
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Organisation:

Quality Committee

IACS Council

Permanent Secretariat
Small Groups and Expert Groups

IACS GPG (General Policy Group)

IACS Panels:

Permanent Secretariat
Expert Groups

Project Teams (PT)

-HULL
-MACHINERY
-STATUTORY
-SURVEY
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Areas of Competence of each panel
Hull:
Strength
Material/Welding
Wave Data/Sea Load
DSA
Drilling Units
Polar Ship
Hull Damage
Containers
Mooring/Anchoring
RoRo Safety

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IACS Organisation
Areas of Competence of each panel
Machinery:
Machinery
Electric System
Computers
Polar ship machinery

Survey:
Survey, Reporting & Certification
Certification of Material & Equipment
New Construction survey Requirements
PR1A (Transfer of Class)
PR 2 (EWS)

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Areas of Competence of each panel
Statutory:
Subdivision stability & Load Lines
Fire Protection & Safety
Bulk Liquid, Gases & Marine Pollution
Exhaust Emission control
ISMC
ISPS
Life Saving Appliances
Bridge equipment
ILO

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QUALITY : organisation and requirements
The Quality Committee is the governing body of the Quality System
Certification Scheme and reports directly to IACS Council.

The QSCS is operated by the IACS Quality Secretary, guided by the IACS
Quality Committee.

The Quality Committee receives guidance from the QSCS Advisory Committee
that is made up of interested parties in the marine industry. This guidance may
be supplemented by the guidance of other special committees or Ad Hoc
Groups as needed. The Quality Committee is operated and controlled in
accordance with the QSCS.

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QUALITY : organisation and requirements

Compliance with the QSCS is mandatory for Members and Associates.

The only quality management system certificate recognized for IACS

Membership is the IACS Quality Management System Certificate of Conformity.

Quality Managemen System Requirements: the IACS members are strictly

bound by these Requirements which constitute the IACS interpretation of the
ISO 9001 standard to classification societies and which also establish
additional requirements to those of the ISO 9001 itself.

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IACS Organisation

Relationship with IMO

IACS is a non-Governmental Organization having observer status at IMO.
IACS should therefore give the highest priority to those subjects under
discussion at IMO which have a close relationship to the functions of
classification societies.
With regard to regulations developed at IMO pertaining to aspects not covered
by the classification societies, IACS should strive to ensure that such
regulations are clear, unambiguous and can easily be applied

IACS Permanent Representative to IMO

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IACS Governing documents:
Charter
Code of Ethics

QSCS (Quality System Certification Scheme) related document

Unified Requirements (UR)
Common Rules
Unified Interpretations (UI)
Recommendations (Rec)
Procedural Requirement (PR)
Refer to the IACS Blue-Book

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IACS Activities are governed by the IACS Charter and

the IACS Code of Ethics

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IACS Organisation

The IACS Charter:

Purpose of the Association
Requirements for Membership: Member status and
Associate status
The IACS Council: is the governing body of the
Association and consists of one representative of each
Member Society

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The IACS Code of Ethics: this is the bedrock of IACS Societies
work
Credibility
Confidentiality of information
Issuing documents without appropriate action
Marketing
Non-acceptance of new contractual situation
Dual classification
Unauthorized surveying
Non-implementation or Withdrawal of IACS Resolutions
Ship casualties
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Technical Resolutions:
Unified Requirements (UR)
Unified Requirements are adopted resolutions on matters directly connected to
or covered by specific Rule requirements and practices of classification
societies and the general philosophy on which the rules and practices of
classification societies are established.
Subject to ratification by the governing body of each Member Society and
Associate, Unified Requirements shall be incorporated in the Rules and
practices of the Member Societies and Associate within one year of adoption by
GPG.
Reservations to new and/or amended Unified Requirements shall be reported
to GPG.
Unified Requirements are minimum requirements. Each Member and
Associate remains free to set more stringent requirements. More stringent
requirements are not to be considered as reason for taking reservation.
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Technical Resolutions:
Common Rules
Common Rules are IACS unified requirements covering broad areas of
classification requirements which, once adopted by IACS Council, shall be
applied by all Members without possibility of reservations.
Unified Interpretations (UI)
Unified Interpretations are adopted resolutions on matters arising from
implementing the requirements of IMO Conventions or Recommendations.
Such adopted resolutions can involve uniform interpretations of Convention
Regulations or IMO Resolutions on those matters which in the Convention are
left to the satisfaction of Administrations or vaguely worded.
Unified Interpretations are circulated to Administrations concerned or are sent
to IMO for information, as appropriate.
Unified Interpretations shall be applied by Member Societies and Associate to
ships whose flag Administrations have not issued definite instructions on the
interpretation of the Regulations concerned.
A date for implementation shall be
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Technical Resolutions:
Recommendations (Rec.)
Recommendations are adopted resolutions not necessarily matters of class on
which IACS considers it would be helpful to offer some advice to the industry.
Procedural Requirements (PR)
Requirements under this category are adopted resolutions on matters of
procedures to be followed by Members and the Associate and, for parts of
some PRs, by the IACS Permanent Secretariat.
Requirements adopted shall be incorporated in the practices and procedures of
the Members within the periods agreed by GPG.
GPG decides which Procedural Requirements are to be posted on the web site
(PRs) and which are to be maintained for internal use only (IPRs).

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IMO GOAL BASED STANDARDS/IACS COMMON STRUCTURAL RULES

The basic principle is to establish clear,demonstrable and verifiable goals to the

effect that a properly built, operated and maintained ship remains safe and
environmentally friendly for its whole life.

This goal-based standards approach aims at moving the regulatory framework

from a culture of compliance, governed by prescriptive rules, to a culture of
benchmarking, backed by functional riskbased requirements. It will move
from given prescriptive solutions to goals that can be achieved by alternative
designs at an equivalent level of safety, promoting technology innovations
within the shipping industry.

Once the framework for goal-based standards is set at the IMO, it will be the
role of IACS, as technical experts, to provide the rules to support these
goals, and these rules will be "common" to all IACS societies.
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Common Rules for hull structures of oil tankers and bulk carriers
were adopted in December 2005 for implementation on 1 April
2006.
This was a most ambitious and expensive project and one of the
most important single steps in the development of maritime
rules that IACS has ever been involved with.

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IACS Organisation

THANK YOU

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