The IMO works through an Assembly, a Council and five main Committees, with Council seats split into three categories

Background

The International Maritime Organization consists of an Assembly, a Council and five main Committees: the Maritime Safety Committee; the Marine Environment Protection Committee; the Legal Committee; the Technical Cooperation Committee; and the Facilitation Committee. A number of Sub-Committees support the work of the main technical committees. The Assembly is the highest Governing Body, consists of all Member States and meets once every two years in regular sessions; it approves the work programme, votes the budget, determines the financial arrangements and elects the Council. The Council is the Executive Organ of IMO, elected by the Assembly for two-year terms, and it appoints the Secretary-General subject to the approval of the Assembly. Council seats fall in three categories: 10 States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services, 10 States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade, and 20 States which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election ensures the representation of all major geographic areas of the world. IMO has adopted amendments to expand the size of the IMO Council to 52. The Maritime Safety Committee is described by IMO as the highest technical body of the Organization. The Marine Environment Protection Committee was first established as a subsidiary body of the Assembly and was raised to full constitutional status in 1985, while the Legal Committee was established in 1967 as a subsidiary body to deal with legal questions which arose in the aftermath of the Torrey Canyon disaster.