Meetings of the Governing Bodies

The governing bodies of the IOPC Funds meet two or three times per year in order to fulfil the requirements set out under Article 18 of the 1992 Fund Convention and Article 16 of the Supplementary Fund Protocol.  Under those Articles, the governing bodies are required, among other things, to give instructions concerning the administration of the Funds to the Director and to supervise the proper execution of the Conventions and of their own decisions.  Further details on the individual governing bodies are provided via the right navigation bar.

Ordinarily, meetings of the IOPC Funds governing bodies are held at the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London, which also houses the IOPC Funds’ offices. However, in the past, the IOPC Funds have had the pleasure of holding sessions of the governing bodies in Morocco (2011), Monaco (2008) and Canada (2007) at the kind and generous invitation of the respective Governments. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the refurbishment of IMO meeting facilities, five sessions of the governing bodies were convened remotely between December 2020 and March 2022. Following the UK Government’s lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions in February 2022 and the completed refurbishment of the main IMO meeting facilities, the October 2022 sessions of the governing bodies were held in person at the IMO headquarters.

A workshop aimed at assisting States in their work towards ratification of the 2010 HNS Protocol was due to take place on 31 October and 1 November 2022 but has been postponed and will now take place on 3 and 4 April 2033 (see Circular IOPC/2022/Circ.6).  The draft programme, provisional timetable for the workshop and registration details can be found in IMO Circular Letter No.4620/Rev.1.

The next meeting of the IOPC Funds will take place at the IMO headquarters during the week of 22 May 2023. A circular containing the invitation and provisional agenda will be issued nearer the time.

Documents issued for IOPC Funds meetings are made available via the Document Services section where delegates can also register for the meetings. Information about the requirement for credentials and notifications for meetings is available here.

The main issues discussed, and decisions taken by the IOPC Funds governing bodies at previous meetings are summarised in news briefs, the most recent of which is available here.  The full Record of Decisions for every meeting of the IOPC Funds’ governing bodies are available via the Document Services section.  Photographs taken at the October 2022 sessions are available here.