The Secretariat

The 1992 Fund and the Supplementary Fund share a joint Secretariat, based in London. As at 6 June 2022, the Secretariat had 25 staff members. The Director is the chief administrative officer and is responsible for the overall management of the Funds, including maintaining a sound system of internal control that supports the achievement of the Funds’ policies, aims and objectives and safeguards its assets. The system of internal control is based on procedures designed to ensure conformity with the Funds’ Financial Regulations, Internal Regulations and decisions of the respective governing bodies.

The Secretariat is divided into three departments, namely: the Claims Department; the Administration Department; and the External Relations and Conference Department. The Director’s Office sits outside the departmental structure.For the strategic running of the Secretariat, the Director is assisted by a Management Team, comprising the Deputy Director/Head of Claims Department, the Head of the Administration Department and the Head of the External Relations and Conference Department. In the event that the Director was unable to assume his functions, the members of the Management Team, in the order set out above, would take on the responsibilities of the Director.

In addition to the permanent staff of the Secretariat, the Funds use external consultants to provide advice on legal and technical matters, as well as on other matters relating to the management of the Funds, where necessary. In connection with a number of major incidents, the Funds and the shipowner’s third-party liability insurer have jointly established local claims offices to provide more efficient handling of claims and to assist claimants.

The official working languages of the IOPC Funds are English, French and Spanish.