Guidance regarding the implementation of international statutory requirements which contain references “to the satisfaction of the Administration” or “to be specified by the Administration” or vaguely worded

1. The International Statutory Requirements, such as the International Maritime
Organization (“IMO”) Conventions and in general all IMO Instruments as amended ratified
by the Republic of Cyprus, or IMO Codes or IMO Resolutions, have a number of rules and
regulations which are left “to the satisfaction of the Administration” or “to be specified by
the Administration” or provide for “equivalent arrangements”, and are vaguely worded.
The purpose of this Circular is to provide guidance and clarify the policy adopted by the
Shipping Deputy Ministry of the Republic of Cyprus (SDM) regarding the above issue.

2. During the examination of any issue for the purpose of providing an interpretation, the
following should be considered:
i) Any National and European Union legislation, including circulars issued by the
SDM,
ii) The Agreement signed between the Recognised Organisation and the Republic of
Cyprus,
iii) Any Resolutions, Circulars, Recommendations, Guidelines etc. adopted by IMO
and/or the International Labour Organization (ILO),
iv) Unified Requirements and Unified Interpretations of the International Association
of Classifications Societies (IACS) which can be found and downloaded at the IACS
website: www.iacs.org.uk

3. For rare cases not covered by the policy stipulated above at paragraph 2, a ‘case by
case’ approach is utilised by the SDM. Such cases however, should be fully justified and
supported by the vessel’s Recognised Organisation.
In any case, the proposal should be forwarded to the SDM as the final decision for
approving / accepting an interpretation lies solely with this Administration.

The RO should await to receive a positive reply from SDM prior to any commitment for
further actions.
For further enquiries, please contact the Shipping Deputy Ministry at
shipsafety@dms.gov.cy