Caribbean States

International Maritime Organization (IMO)

The project provides support to the Caribbean States in the development and modernization of their national maritime legislation in order to ensure the sustainable development of the region’s maritime transport sector through:
• effective Government administration and oversight of ship-ping activities;
• the implementation and enforcement of the global standards on maritime safety and marine environment protection contained in the Conventions and other regulatory instruments of the IMO.

• Management of wastes (Chapter III of the Barbados Programme of Action)
• Transport and communication (Chapter XII of the BPoA)

Modern and comprehensive maritime legislation has been developed for the Caribbean States in the form of a model Shipping Act and a model Shipping (Marine Pollution) Act. The model Acts have been widely distributed throughout the Caribbean States and are being placed on IMO’s web site. Similar support is now being provided to the Caribbean States for the development of model regulations to give practical effect to the model Acts. The model regulations will also be distributed widely throughout the region.
Further support will be provided to the Caribbean States, on request, to adapt the package of model legislation and model regulations to their individual circumstances.

Following initial legal advisory missions to individual Caribbean States, a need for a comprehensive model legislation was identified, which the Caribbean States could use in develop-ing or updating their maritime laws and regulations. The project was consequently re-designed to concentrate on the development of the required models and the subsequent support to the Caribbean States in adapting the models to national circumstances.In view of similar needs identified in the developing countries of other regions, the model legislation developed for the Caribbean States has also been distributed in Africa, the Arab States/Mediterranean, Asia/Pacific, and CIS/Eastern Europe.

Mr. Espinoza Ferrey
Head, Latin America and Caribbean Section
Technical Co-operation Division
International Maritime Organization
4 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7SR
United Kingdom
Tel.: (44) 20-7587-3224
Fax: (44) 20-7587-3210
E-mail: jespinoza@imo.org
Web site: www.imo.org