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Of all the international conventions dealing with maritime safety, the most important is the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, better known as SOLAS, which covers a wide range of measures designed to improve the safety of shipping.
The convention is also one of the oldest of its kind: the first version was adopted in 1914 following the sinking of the Titanic with the loss of more than 1,500 lives. Since then there have been four more versions of SOLAS. The present version was adopted in 1974 and entered into force in 1980.
In order to provide an easy reference to all SOLAS requirements applicable from 1 July 2004, this edition presents a consolidated text of the SOLAS Convention, its Protocols of 1978 and 1988, and all amendments in effect from that date. The 2000 amendments (affecting chapters II-1, II-2, III and V and some of the certificates), the 2001 amendment (affecting chapter VII) and the 2002 amendments (affecting chapters II-1, II-2, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and XII and dividing chapter XI into XI-1 "Special measures to enhance maritime safety" and XI-2 "Special measures to enhance maritime security") have been incorporated into the previous consolidated edition to produce this new one. The new edition also includes forms of the safety certificates relating to the Convention and the test of regulation II-2/12-2. This regulation was deleted from the consolidated text of the Convention by the amendments that were adopted in December 2002, but oil tankers of 500 gross tonnage and over that are constructed on or after 1 October 1994 and before 1 January 2005 must comply with its provisions. |
