As a courtesy to our audience, Maritime Commons will provide a daily compilation of nationally-relevant Federal Register Notices. To provide comments for the public record, follow the Federal Register link for each individual notice. Please note, the Coast Guard cannot respond to comments on these notices outside of the Federal Register.

The Coast Guard seeks comment on a notice of proposed rulemaking that would add the new Polar Ship Certificate to the list of certificates required to be carried on board all U.S. and foreign-flagged vessels subject to SOLAS which operate in Arctic and Antarctic waters. The proposal also enables recognized classification societies to issue these certificates on behalf of the Coast Guard.

The proposal ensures vessels that comply with the Polar Code are properly certificated and not subject to detention when sailing internationally. The Coast Guard is currently considering additional amendments to commercial shipping regulations that may be necessary to fully implement the SOLAS, MAROL and STCW provisions of the Polar Code.

Comments and related materials on this proposal must be submitted on or before Dec. 22, 2016.

For more information on the proposal, please view the entire Federal Register notice.

Additional information on the Polar Code will be posted on the Maritime Commons as the Code approaches entry into force. For more information, please view the entire series on Polar Code.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.