Analysis of Amendments to the International Maritime Organization Convention: Looking at the Situation in Iran

The need for an international, specialized, and comprehensive maritime organization underlay the development and approval of the International Maritime Consultative Convention in 1948. However, prolongation of the convention's entry into force for ten years, the emergence of new issues in maritime affairs, revealed the need to amend the aforesaid convention. The present study aims to analyze the amendments to this convention. A total of eight amendments have been made to this convention. The most important changes resulting from these amendments can be observed in the structure and pillars of this organization. This council, which initially started its activity with 16 members, gradually promoted to 40 members with the continuous and permanent membership of developing countries. Accordingly, Maritime Safety Committee, Legal Committee, Marine Environment Protection Committee, Technical Cooperation Committee, and Facilitation Committee were established and then gradually promoted from a secondary committee to a major and specialized committee considering the importance of their activities. In addition to all these structural reforms, according to the Fourth Amendment, adopted in 1975 and put into force in 1982, the name of this organization was changed from the International Maritime Consultative Organization to the International Maritime Organization. Regarding the amendments, this organization has managed to cope with the most important challenges of safety, security, and marine pollution and develop the same standards around the world. In the meantime, Iran has played an active role in accepting these amendments. Although there was a pause in Iran's effective role and the adoption of the fourth to sixth amendments to the IMO Charter, once again, given the importance of the IMO in Iran's maritime policy, the country took a more active role in accepting the seventh and eighth amendments are visible.