Professor Han Lixin, Vice Dean of Dalian Maritime University Law School and executive member of China Maritime Law Association (CMLA), attended the IMO Legal Committee,106th Session, on March 27-30 at London. The Chinese delegation to the 106th Session consisted of professionals from Ministry of Transport, Maritime Safety Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DMU, China Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association and CMLA. The delegates were actively involved in the Session under the direction of Department of International Cooperation of Ministry of Transport.
（Prof. Han at theCMLA)
About twelve issues have been discussed during the 106th Session which included: 1. Facilitation of the entry into force and harmonized interpretation of the 2010 HNS Protocol; 2. Provisions of financial security in case of abandonment of seafarers, and shipowners’ responsibilities in respect of contractual claims for personal injury to, or death of seafarers, in light of the progress of amendments to the ILO Maritime Labor Convention, 2006; 3. Fair treatment of seafarers in the event of a maritime accident; 4. Advice and guidance in connection with the implementation of IMO instruments; 5. Measures to prevent unlawful practices associated with the fraudulent registration and fraudulent registries of ships; 6. Regulatory scoping exercise and gap analysis of conventions emanating from the Legal Committee with respect to Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS); 7.Piracy; 8. Work of other IMO bodies; 9.Technical cooperation activities related to maritime legislation; 10.Proposal to add a new output under the work programme on “Unified Interpretation on the test for breaking the owner’s right to limit liability under the IMO conventions”; 11. Fair treatment of seafarers detained on suspicion of committing maritime crimes；12. Review of the status of conventions and other treaty instruments emanating from the Legal Committee.
Professor Han Lixin participated the discussion regarding “Fair treatment of seafarers detained on suspicion of committing maritime crimes” and “MASS”together with associate professor Li Zhen from the International Maritime Conventions Research Center of DMU.
China is the Category A member of IMO’s Council. Mr. Zhang Xiaojie, Vice Director of Department of International Cooperation of Ministry of Transport, was elected the President of IMO Council on December 7, 2017, which was the first time that Chinese representative had taken that position.
