Glossary

The language of certification

The vocabulary of audits, certificates and cargo papers in plain seafarer's language. Every term is drawn from the library's lessons and links back to the full treatment.

Ship's certificates lesson Certification process lesson Maritime law FAQ

Audit: A systematic, independent and documented examination of a management system against a standard — sampling records, interviewing crew and observing practice to judge whether the system is implemented, not merely written.
Certification audit — Phase 1: The documentation review: the certification body checks manuals, procedures and records against the standard to confirm the system is ready for full assessment. Gaps found here must be closed before Phase 2.
Certification audit — Phase 2: The implementation check: auditors verify on board and ashore that the documented system is actually working — interviews, observations and records sampled against the procedures reviewed in Phase 1.
Surveillance visit: A periodic audit between certification and recertification that confirms the management system remains in operation and continues to conform. Falling short here can suspend the certificate.
Recertification audit: The full renewal audit, required every three years in the typical certification cycle, that re-examines the whole management system before a new certificate is issued.
Statutory certificate: A certificate required by an international convention — SOLAS, MARPOL, Load Line, STCW, MLC — and issued by or on behalf of the flag state. Trading without a valid statutory certificate is a Port State Control detention risk.
Flag state: The state whose flag the ship flies and whose administration is responsible for certifying and inspecting it. Much certification work is delegated to recognised organisations — the classification societies.
Port State ControlPSC: The power of a coastal state to inspect visiting foreign ships and verify they carry the certificates and training required by the conventions — enforceable up to detention. STCW compliance is checked this way.
Compliance: The state of actually meeting the requirements of the conventions, class rules and the company's own management system — evidenced by records, drills and audits, not just documents on board. It is graded: a deficiency must be corrected, a non-conformity raises a finding on the system, and a major non-conformity or detainable deficiency can stop the ship trading until it is closed.
Flag of convenienceOpen registry: A registry open to shipowners of any nationality, where the flag has no real connection to the owner's country. Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands — the world's three largest registries — work this way, as do many others.
How flag states differ: Flags split into traditional (closed) registries — Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands — which require a genuine national link, national crewing rules and full administration support; and open registries, which compete on tax, fees, crewing freedom and speed of registration. The practical differences are cost and paperwork on one side, and on the other: how the registry handles endorsements, inspections and detentions, its port-state detention record, and whether it delegates survey work to recognised organisations. Seafarers feel the difference directly — the flag on the stern decides whose CoC endorsement you carry, whose labour law applies, and how hard the administration works for you when something goes wrong.
STCW Convention: The IMO's Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping convention — the international minimum for seafarer training and administration. Adopted 1978, substantially revised as STCW 95, with the Manila Amendments of 2010 the latest major revision.
Certificate of CompetencyCoC: The STCW certificate qualifying a seafarer to serve in a stated capacity — officer of the watch, chief mate, master, engineer — issued by an administration after approved training, sea service and examination.
Endorsement: The flag state's recognition of a certificate — either attesting a CoC it issued, or recognising a foreign CoC for service on its ships. Sailing without the correct endorsement is an STCW non-conformity.
ISM Code: The International Safety Management Code — SOLAS Chapter IX — requiring every company and ship to run a safety management system, verified by audit and evidenced by the DOC and SMC.
Document of ComplianceDOC: The ISM certificate issued to the company, confirming its safety management system meets the Code. Valid five years, subject to annual verification; every ship the company operates depends on it.
Safety Management CertificateSMC: The ISM certificate issued to the individual ship, confirming the company's system is implemented on board. Valid five years with at least one intermediate verification.
International Ship Security CertificateISSC: The ISPS Code certificate confirming the ship's security plan is approved and implemented — verified at initial, intermediate and renewal audits under SOLAS Chapter XI-2.
IOPP Certificate: International Oil Pollution Prevention certificate under MARPOL Annex I — required for oil tankers of 150 GT and above and every other vessel of 400 GT and above.
IAPP Certificate: International Air Pollution Prevention certificate under MARPOL Annex VI — required for vessels of 400 GT and above, covering engines, incinerators, ozone-depleting substances and fuel quality.
EIAPP Certificate: Engine International Air Pollution Prevention certificate — issued per marine diesel engine of more than 130 kW, certifying its NOx emissions comply with MARPOL Annex VI.
NLS Certificate: International Pollution Prevention Certificate for the Carriage of Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk — MARPOL Annex II — for vessels certified to carry such cargoes.
ISPP Certificate: International Sewage Pollution Prevention certificate under MARPOL Annex IV — for vessels of 400 GT and above, or certified to carry more than 15 persons.
Ship Sanitation Control CertificateSSCC: Issued under the WHO International Health Regulations (2005) after inspection finds the ship free of measures, or after controls are applied (SSCEC). Valid six months — the successor to the old Deratting Certificate, which no longer exists.
Maritime Labour CertificateMLC: The MLC 2006 certificate confirming the ship complies with seafarer working and living standards — valid five years with intermediate inspection, carried with the Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance.
Master's discretion: SOLAS Chapter V, Regulation 34-1: no owner, charterer, company or any other person may prevent or restrict the Master from taking any decision which, in the Master's professional judgement, is necessary for safety of life at sea and protection of the marine environment.
Hague-Visby Rules: The international convention governing the carriage of goods by sea under a Bill of Lading. They set the carrier's obligations to care for the cargo, the one-year time limit for claims, the package limitation of liability, and the exceptions — fire, perils of the sea, error of navigation — on which a cargo claim is won or lost.
Bill of LadingB/L: The three-in-one shipping document: the Master's receipt for the cargo as it was received on board, evidence of the contract of carriage, and the document of title against which the goods are delivered. Clausing it for defects at loading is the Master's main defence against cargo claims.
Letter of ProtestLOP: A written statement by the Master recording a disagreement — cargo loaded in doubtful condition, a receiver's shortfall, contaminated bunkers — when commercial pressure pushes toward signing clean documents. Issued promptly and acknowledged, it preserves the ship's position when the claim arrives later.
Protection & IndemnityP&I: Mutual insurance covering the ship's third-party liabilities: cargo damage, personal injury, pollution, collision liability and wreck removal — the risks hull insurance does not touch. P&I clubs pool their members' exposures and support the Master with correspondence and claims handling when an incident happens.

A term missing from this list? Put it to the librarian — if the library covers it, the answer will cite the passage.