In its monthly newsletter, EMSA announced that it has developed and released the Flag State Inspection functionality in RuleCheck. The objective of this innovative functionality is to support the work of flag state inspectors performing periodic flag state inspections (not statutory).

RuleCheck facilitates the work of the PSCOs by filtering the applicable requirements of the international instruments and regional procedures for a specific ship according to its type, construction date, size, etc. The tool is regularly updated to ensure that the PSCOs always have access to the latest versions of the applicable international instruments. The search function gives PSCOs ready access to relevant and targeted information, avoiding the need to consult hard copies. The tool also facilitates the harmonisation of the standards for PSC inspections within a region.

In particular, the new feature allows users to generate customised checklists for individual ships taking into consideration ship type and keel laying date which are the main factors to define the applicable EU and international mandatory instruments, rules, and regulations.

Additional factors such as Gross Tonnage, Deadweight, Freeboard Length, Overall Length, Passenger Number (in the case of a passenger ship) could be used to customise further the search results and the final output. In addition, the functionality allows users to further customise the produced checklists by selecting the relevant inspection area.

More than 2 000 Flag State Inspectors who are existing users from EU Member States, Candidate Countries and ENP beneficiaries have been provided with access to the new functionality and training will be incorporated into all ship inspection learning services developed by the EMSA Academy.

This new service will further enhance Flag State control inspections and is expected to increase the levels of safety, security, pollution prevention and working and living conditions on board ships.

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	Issue 83 of Robban Assafina (Jan./ Feb. 2023)