IMO

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the United Nations specialized agency that sets global standards for the safety, security, and environmental performance of international shipping. Headquartered in London, it was established by a convention adopted at a UN conference in Geneva in 1948 and originally named the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO); the convention entered into force in 1958, and the body was renamed IMO in 1982.

The IMO's main role is to create a regulatory framework for the shipping industry that is fair, effective, universally adopted, and uniformly implemented. Its principal organs are the Assembly (all member states, meeting biennially), the Council (the executive organ), and five main committees: the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), the Legal Committee, the Technical Cooperation Committee, and the Facilitation Committee. A Secretariat headed by a Secretary-General supports their work.

Key instruments adopted under IMO auspices include:

• SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974), the most important treaty on merchant ship safety.
• MARPOL (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the 1978 Protocol), the principal treaty governing marine pollution from ships.
• STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978).
• COLREGs (Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972).
• The ISPS Code on ship and port facility security, adopted after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

IMO has also become central to climate negotiations on shipping emissions, adopting an Initial Strategy on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ships in 2018 and a revised strategy in July 2023 setting a target of net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping "by or around" 2050. Decisions are typically reached by consensus, though formal voting rules exist.