European PMSC Licences

Notwithstanding the decreased threat situation by Somali Piracy, European Flag States had developed and adopted national legislation for the licensing of PMSC step-by-step  in the last years, as France has recently done with its 2014 law No. 2014-742. In the framework of the recently revised ISO 28007:2015 the question may arise, if this ISO Standard can fulfill the requirements of the Joint Communication “For An Open and Secure Global Maritime Domain” by the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in early March 2014.

A good argument can be made that it will, as the recently published IMO MSC.1/Circ.1406/Rev.3 recommends the ISO 28007 as a considerable step for Flag States in the framework of a development of policies and/or regulations towards the use of PCASP. Indeed several Flag States had been inspired by the ISO 28007 while their regulation developing process, but factual the certification itself is not been respected as a facilitation of the application procedure by the European Union Flag States.

As a matter of fact, there are currently only UK based accredited companies offering the ISO 28007 certification process, while other national accreditation bodies denied the relevance of this ISO Standard for their national markets. As the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Declaration on Maritime Security of April 2015 encourage the implementation of standards and codes of conduct „in cases not covered by flag state legislation“ it currently therefore seems more likely, that the ISO 28007 will become a surrogate for national licenses. 

You can download the current MSC.1/Circ.1406/Rev.3 as well as the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Declaration on Maritime Security over the buttons down below.

IMO MSC.1/Circ.1406/Rev.3

G7 Foreign Ministers Declaration