IMO guidance on private maritime security
Interim guidance to private maritime security companies (PMSCs) was agreed by IMOs Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), when it met at the Organizations London Headquarters for its 90th session recently.
A special high level segment of the MSC saw an intense debate, over the first day and a half of the Committee’s session, on how the international community should deal with issues related to the deployment of privately contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) on board ships and the carriage of arms on board.
Following further debate during a working group, the MSC agreed Interim Guidance to private maritime security companies (PMSC) providing contracted armed security personnel on board ships in the High Risk Area.
The MSC agreed that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) would be best placed to develop international standards for PMSCs based on the IMO-developed guidance and with relevant IMO liaison and participation in the ISO process for standards’ development.
The MSC also agreed to consequential revisions to the interim guidance for shipowners, ship operators and shipmasters; flag States; and port and coastal States on the use of PCASP on board ships to counter Somali based piracy, to reflect the new guidance to PMSCs.
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