From April 22 to 26, 2024, the 111th session of the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was held in London, United Kingdom. The meeting was chaired by Ms. Gillian Grant (Canadian) and attended and addressed the opening and closing ceremonies of the IMO Secretary-General, Mr. Dominguez. The Department of International Affairs of the Ministry of Transport, together with the Maritime Safety Administration, Dalian Maritime University, the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the China Shipowners P&I Association, the China Maritime Law Association and the maritime special class of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, formed a Chinese delegation to attend the meeting in a combination of online and offline mode.
In addition to the plenary, the meeting also established two working groups, "Fair Treatment of Seafarers" and "Liability and Compensation". There were 17 agenda items and 39 documents. Under the agenda item of "Convention Instruments of the Legal Committee for the Implementation of Autonomous Ships at Sea", the "Proposal on the Formulation of the Guidelines for the Convention Instruments of the Legal Committee for the Implementation of Autonomous Ships on Maritime Water" submitted by China was widely supported by the participating delegations and included in the roadmap for the work of the Legal Committee on Autonomous Ships at Sea and adopted at this session, and was one of the priorities of the Committee to promote this work in the future. The meeting also adopted the draft Guidelines on the Fair Treatment of Seafarers Detained on Suspicion of Offences and agreed to forward the draft to the ILO/IMO Tripartite Working Group for further consideration, with a view to the issuance of the guidelines at the next session of the Legal Committee; Methodology for assessing changes in currency value and the Guidelines for the Acceptance of Insurers, Financial Institutions and International P&I Clubs, and decided to issue them in the form of a circular letter from the Commission; It was also decided to establish an intersessional correspondence group to develop Guidelines for the Admission of Insurance Companies, Financial Institutions and International P&I Clubs under the 2002 Protocol to the Athens Convention. During the meeting, the Chinese delegation made a speech on the exploration of cultivating intelligent navigation talents, and introduced the measures of mainland navigation colleges and universities in exploring intelligent shipping and cultivating intelligent shipping talents.
The Committee decided that the 112th Session of the Law Committee would be held from 24 to 28 March 2025 and that Ms. Gillian Grant (Canadian) would be re-elected as Chair of the 2025 Session.
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