Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) on the establishment of the EQUASIS information system

Endorsing fully the aim of the Quality Shipping Campaign to promote a quality culture throughout the maritime industry as a whole;

Acknowledging the importance of improved transparency of information relating to the quality of ships and their operators for a genuine safety and quality culture in shipping;

Recalling the Joint Ministerial Declaration by The First Joint Ministerial Conference of Paris and Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding on port State control, adopted in Vancouver on 25 March 1998, calling for greater co-operation between port State control authorities and other concerned agencies;

Recalling further the Quality Shipping Conference in Lisbon in June 1998, and subsequent Quality Shipping events, in which the participants, representing the whole range of the maritime industry sectors, have called for making existing safety-related information on ships more accessible;

Convinced of the necessity of co-operation between public authorities and the maritime industry as regards the exchange of ship safety-related information;

Noting that this Memorandum is not a legally binding document and is not intended to impose any legal obligation on any of the Participants;

The latest Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Equasis was signed on the 2nd July 2009 in London. The MoU was signed by the following member states that are now party to the agreement: The United Kingdom, France, Spain, Norway, Japan, The Republic of Korea and Canada. The MoU was also signed by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), acting as representative of the European Commission. The text of the final version in the English, French and Spanish languages can be found below