Maritime Safety Committee

Overview

The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) is the International Maritime Organization’s senior technical committee, open to all Member States, and the body that writes and adopts the amendments to the SOLAS Convention and the codes governing safety and security at sea. It is a committee of the United Nations specialized agency for shipping — not a national regulator, and not any country’s domestic maritime safety committee. Its decisions become binding international law for the world’s merchant fleet. (United States Coast Guard)

The Committee’s remit is unusually wide: navigation aids, ship construction and equipment, manning from a safety standpoint, collision rules, dangerous cargoes, safety procedures, hydrographic information, log-books and navigational records, casualty investigations, salvage and rescue, and any other matter directly affecting maritime safety (United States Coast Guard). In practice that means the MSC is where the rules for everything from lifeboat design to autonomous ships and port security are negotiated, session by session, before they reach ships. The U.S. Coast Guard, which works with IMO, describes it as the Organization’s highest technical body (United States Coast Guard).

Mandate, membership and how its rules become law

The MSC consists of all IMO Member States, and its standing comes from the IMO Convention itself: it must consider any matter within the Organization’s scope touching maritime safety, and it supplies the machinery for duties assigned to it by the Convention or by any international instrument the Organization has accepted (International Maritime Organization). When it adopts amendments to conventions such as SOLAS, it sits in an expanded form that also includes countries party to those conventions even if they are not IMO Member States (International Maritime Organization). Seven technical sub-committees do the detailed work beneath it — Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC), Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping (HTW), Implementation of IMO Instruments (III), Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR), Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR), Ship Design and Construction (SDC), and Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE) — shared with the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) (International Maritime Organization).

The mechanism that gives the MSC its force is tacit acceptance under SOLAS. The 1974 SOLAS Convention, adopted on 1 November 1974 and in force from 25 May 1980, provides that an amendment enters into force on a specified date unless objections are received from an agreed number of parties (International Maritime Organization). Silence means consent, so amendments take effect on their set date without waiting for each state to ratify them individually (International Maritime Rescue Federation). That is why a single MSC session can change the rules for the whole merchant fleet on a known date.

What it adopts: SOLAS, security, nuclear cargo and distress systems

The MSC’s longest-running job is keeping SOLAS current. The Convention sets minimum standards for the construction, equipment and operation of ships, with flag states responsible for compliance and port state control letting other governments inspect visiting ships (International Maritime Organization). Its chapters run from construction and fire protection through life-saving appliances, navigation, cargoes, dangerous goods, safety management, high-speed craft, bulk carriers and polar waters (International Maritime Organization). The MSC also owns the security layer: after the 11 September 2001 attacks, a December 2002 diplomatic conference adopted the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code as SOLAS Chapter XI-2, in force from 1 July 2004, with Part A mandatory and Part B guidance (Center for International Maritime Security). Some 50,000 ships were certified in the 18 months between adoption and entry into force (Center for International Maritime Security) — a global security regime rolled out across 50,000 ships in 18 months shows how fast the tacit-acceptance system can move when the political will exists.

The Committee also governs two specialist regimes. The INF Code for packaged irradiated nuclear fuel, plutonium and high-level radioactive waste began as a voluntary code in 1993, became mandatory in January 2001 under SOLAS Chapter VII, and has since been amended by MSC resolutions MSC.118(74), MSC.135(76), MSC.178(79) and MSC.241(83) (International Maritime Organization). And under SOLAS Chapter IV the MSC stewards the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), which came into effect in 1999 and requires regulated vessels to carry equipment that improves the chances of rescue after an accident (International Maritime Rescue Federation).

Landmark instrument	MSC’s role	Status
SOLAS Convention, 1974	Adopts amendments through the expanded MSC; tacit acceptance brings them into force	In force since 25 May 1980, amended repeatedly
ISPS Code	Adopted by the December 2002 SOLAS conference as Chapter XI-2	In force 1 July 2004; Part A mandatory, Part B guidance
INF Code	Amended by MSC.118(74), MSC.135(76), MSC.178(79), MSC.241(83)	Voluntary 1993; mandatory January 2001
GMDSS (SOLAS Chapter IV)	Performance standards and satellite-service criteria, e.g. NAVDAT standards at MSC 109	In effect 1999; updated at MSC 109
STCW Code	Adopts training amendments, including 2024 violence-and-harassment requirements	Amendments entering into force 1 January 2026

The 2024–2026 sessions: autonomous ships, new fuels and seafarers

At MSC 108 (15–24 May 2024) the Committee adopted a resolution on the security situation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, condemning Houthi attacks on commercial ships and seafarers and demanding the release of the MV Galaxy Leader and its crew, detained since their hijacking in November 2023 (BIMCO). Around 50 hazardous and destabilising maritime attacks had occurred in the area since that hijacking, killing several seafarers and inflicting life-changing injuries on others (BIMCO). The same session revised the roadmap for the Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) Code, approved revised cyber risk management guidelines, and adopted SOLAS amendments on emergency towing, ro-ro passenger fire safety and container-loss reporting, plus STCW amendments on violence and harassment entering into force on 1 January 2026 (BIMCO). The session also adopted a swathe of code amendments — IGF, Grain, ESP, LSA and FSS Codes and the IMDG Code — most entering into force on 1 January 2026 (BIMCO).

MSC 109 (2–6 December 2024) adopted IGC Code amendments letting ammonia cargo be used as fuel on ammonia carriers, entering into force on 1 July 2026, and IGF Code amendments for ships using natural gas as fuel, entering into force on 1 January 2028 (DNV). It finalized the MASS Code chapters on risk assessment, remote operations and connectivity, though the search-and-rescue obligations of autonomous ships were considered but not concluded (DNV). MSC 110 (18–27 June 2025), chaired by Mayte Medina of the United States with Vice-Chair Captain Theofilos Mozas of Greece, adopted SOLAS pilot-transfer amendments, finalized 18 MASS Code chapters, decided unmanned autonomous ships must be capable of assisting persons in distress, and concluded its review of regulatory barriers to alternative fuels — initiating work that includes updating the Code of Safety for Nuclear Merchant Ships (DNV, International Maritime Rescue Federation).

MSC 111 (13–22 May 2026) adopted the non-mandatory International Code of Safety for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS Code), effective from 1 July 2026, starting on a voluntary basis for at least two years before a mandatory code expected to enter into force on 1 January 2032 (Lloyd’s Register, MarineLink). The Code applies to large internationally trading cargo ships and sets a goal-based framework so autonomous vessels are built, operated and certified to safety and environmental standards equivalent to conventional ships (MarineLink). The same session approved IGC and IGF Code amendments expected to enter into force on 1 July 2028, and adopted SOLAS amendments permitting VHF Data Exchange Systems, entering into force on 1 January 2028 (Lloyd’s Register).

Session	Dates	Headline outcomes
MSC 108	15–24 May 2024	Red Sea security resolution; MASS roadmap revised; STCW violence-and-harassment amendments; SOLAS emergency-towing and ro-ro fire-safety amendments
MSC 109	2–6 Dec 2024	IGC ammonia-as-fuel amendments (in force 1 Jul 2026); IGF amendments (in force 1 Jan 2028); MASS chapters on risk, remote ops, connectivity
MSC 110	18–27 Jun 2025	SOLAS pilot-transfer amendments; 18 MASS chapters; unmanned MASS must assist persons in distress; alternative-fuel barrier review concluded
MSC 111	13–22 May 2026	MASS Code adopted (effective 1 Jul 2026, voluntary); IGC/IGF amendments approved (in force 1 Jul 2028); VDES amendments adopted

Frequently asked questions

What is the Maritime Safety Committee? The MSC is the International Maritime Organization’s highest technical body, consisting of all IMO Member States, responsible for maritime safety and security rules including SOLAS amendments, the ISPS Code and the MASS Code for autonomous ships. (United States Coast Guard)

Who can take part in the MSC? All IMO Member States sit on the Committee, and when it adopts amendments to conventions such as SOLAS it sits in an expanded form that also includes countries party to those conventions even if they are not IMO Member States. (International Maritime Organization)

How do MSC amendments become binding law? Under SOLAS tacit acceptance, an MSC-adopted amendment enters into force on a specified date unless objections are received from an agreed number of parties, so silence means consent and amendments take effect without waiting for each state to ratify them individually. (International Maritime Organization)

What is the MASS Code? The International Code of Safety for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships, adopted at MSC 111 in May 2026 and effective from 1 July 2026, is a goal-based framework for autonomous and remotely operated cargo ships, starting voluntary for at least two years before a mandatory code expected in 2032. (MarineLink)

Is this the same as a national maritime safety committee? No. This profile covers only IMO’s global committee in London. National bodies — such as a country’s own maritime safety administration — are separate entities with domestic jurisdiction, and this profile makes no claims about any of them.

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not state the Committee’s exact founding date or first session, which were not verified in a full-read source. It does not claim a fixed twice-yearly meeting cadence, and it does not name the chair of MSC 111, which no full-read source confirmed. It does not attribute greenhouse-gas or net-zero framework decisions to the MSC: emissions frameworks belong to the Marine Environment Protection Committee, while the MSC handles the safety side of alternative fuels and new technologies. It does not state the total number of IMO Member States, and it does not claim the MASS Code covers liability, warships, or small craft outside its SOLAS cargo-ship scope.