46 C.F.R. § 2.45-15 – Approval requirements.

(a) A classification society may be approved for purpose of § 2.45-10 if the following conditions are met:
1. (1) Vessels surveyed by the classification society must have a worldwide port state control detention rate of less than 2 percent based on the number of Recognized Organization (RO)-related detentions divided by the number of vessel inspections for at least 40 port state control inspections for the past 3 years;
2. (2) The classification society must not be identified in the most recent publication of “Port State Control in the United States” as a Priority I and as having more than one RO-related detention for the past 3 years;
3. (3) The classification society must comply with the minimum standards for an RO recommended in IMO Resolution A.739(18), Appendix 1 (incorporated by reference, see § 2.45-5.);
4. (4) The classification society must be an RO for at least one country under a formal written agreement that includes all of the elements described in IMO Resolution A.739(18), Appendix 2 (incorporated by reference, see § 2.45-5.);
5. (5) The referenced country that is cited for satisfaction of the requirement of paragraph (a)(4) of this section for which the classification society is an RO—
  1. (i) Must be signatory to each of the following: The International Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS), the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78), the International Convention on Load Lines (ICLL), 1966, and the Protocol of 1988 relating to the ICLL, 1966; and
  2. (ii) Must not be identified as a flag state targeted for additional port state control action by the Coast Guard or any regional port state control secretariat.
6. (6) The classification society must use a system to—
  1. (i) Make its safety records and those of persons acting on behalf of the classification society available to the Coast Guard in electronic format;
  2. (ii) Provide its safety records and those of persons acting on behalf of the classification society to another classification society that requests those records for the purpose of conducting surveys of vessels; and
  3. (iii) Request the safety records of a vessel to be surveyed from any other classification society that previously surveyed that vessel.
(b) Where sufficient performance records are not available from a regional port state control secretariat, the Coast Guard may consider an equivalent safety performance indicator proposed by the classification society seeking approval.