Supervising The Enforcement Of Maritime International Conventions

This paper starts with the definition of the maritime international convention, classifying conventions in terms of the nature of private and public. Because the public authority is more involved in the flag State control and the port state control (the "PSC"), so the implementation mechanism discussed in this paper mainly focuses on the public international convention.Moving to the main part of the paper, the author discusses both the flag state control and PSC which has been internationally accepted successively. As for the flag state control, we need to define the flag state in the first place. The registration systems of ships generally accepted by the international community mainly include closed registration, open registration, second flag registration and bareboat charter registration. The flag state bears the most important responsibility for the management of ships and the implementation of conventions. As for the PSC, UNCLOS, MARPOL, SOLAS, STCW, MLC and other major maritime conventions are all important legal bases for PSC. From the perspective of the performance of maritime conventions, PSC is acted as a complementary role to flag state control, and when there is a conflict between flag state control and PSC, a higher standard should be chosen for sustainable development.As a flag state, China’s responsibilities to implement international conventions include:registration of ships; taking measures to ensure maritime safety; ensuring vessels to comply with the international rules, standards and the corresponding national laws and regulations on the prevention of marine pollution. The domestic legal basis includes but not limited to the "Maritime Traffic Safety Law", the "Maritime Law", the "Marine Environmental Protection Law", the "Registration Regulations", the "Security Rules" and other laws and regulations and international conventions which China has joined. As a port state, in addition to the above-mentioned laws and regulations, the main basis for China to carry out PSC also includes the "Rules Governing Foreign Vessels", "Tokyo Memorandum" and other legal documents.Efforts of China in the performance of maritime international conventions are obvious to all, but it is undeniable that improvements should be made in the legal framework of China. First, the implementation mechanism of international conventions should be clear and stipulated in the Constitution. Second, the legislative and regulatory mechanisms in the maritime field should be perfected, new laws and regulations should be reasonable and targeted developed as well, while at present the existing laws and regulations also need to be improved. In strengthening the legislative construction, maritime regulatory body should also establish a more comprehensive international information sharing mechanism for maritime conventions.