IACS Harmonised Common Structural Rules Released for Industry Review
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The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) is pleased to announce the release of the second draft of IACS harmonised Common Structural Rules (CSR) on the IACS website. As part of the agreed process of development, IACS invites Industry to offer comments on all parts of the draft Rules – prior to the end of August 2013. Feedback should be submitted via e-mail to csr@iacs.org.uk
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This second draft of the harmonised CSR builds on the first draft that was released in July 2012. The rule text has been further developed to take into account feedback received during the first review period although some of the more detailed comments are still being considered. Presentations of the second draft of harmonised Rules are provisionally planned in Asia and Europe.
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A key objective of the CSR harmonisation project was to achieve full compliance with the IMO Goal Based Standards (GBS) which come into force in the middle of 2016. With this in mind, this second release of the draft harmonised CSR and technical background address the Functional Requirements of the IMO Goal Based Standards (GBS), where they fall within the scope of these Rules.
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The harmonisation of the Rules involves extensive technical work, testing and calibration, and now a further period for the maritime industry and other stakeholders to review the second draft of harmonised CSR and raise questions, observations and general feedback. To assist with the review Consequence Assessment (CA) reports are being published with this second draft.
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This final industry review period will be followed by IACS Societies’ Technical Committees review in the Autumn of 2013 with a view to adopt the harmonised CSR by IACS Council in December 2013.
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As with the first review, IACS will be using a “Knowledge Centre” (KC) on the IACS website to record questions, observations and feedback. The Knowledge Centre may be accessed as follows: http://iacs-csrkc.org.uk
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IACS looks forward to the maritime industry’s continued contribution to the project through its feedback on the draft harmonised CSR.
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Contact: Derek Hodgson, Permanent Secretary
(London) 020 7976 0660
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Background:
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1. The IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR) for Double Hull Oil Tankers and Bulk Carriers were adopted by IACS Council in December 2005 and came into force in April 2006. These two sets of Rules were developed independently and there were some variances in the adopted technical approaches for some elements of the Rules. To remove variations and achieve consistency, IACS made a commitment to Industry to harmonise the CSR, and the harmonisation project for the two sets of Rules began in 2008. This project has resulted in a single set of Rules comprised of common, harmonised requirements applicable to both Oil Tankers and Bulker Carriers with specific sections of additional requirements applicable to each ship type.
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2. The “Knowledge Centre” (KC) was set-up by IACS prior to the first industry review period as an online depository of questions, observations and feedback. Following the adoption of the harmonised CSR it will continue to be used as a depository of knowledge, explanations, common interpretations and understandings as well as to facilitate the management and maintenance of the harmonised CSR in the future – thus facilitating uniform and consistent implementation of the final harmonised CSR.
