IMO LEGAL COMMITTEE 113th (LEG 113) Summary Report

The hundred thirteenth session of IMO Legal Committee (LEG 113) was held in person from the 13rd to the 17th of April 2026, with hybrid facilities allowing remote participation.

LEG 113 was informed that Belgium, Germany, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Sweden had deposited their instruments of ratification for the 2010 HNS Convention. Their accessions bring the treaty closer to entry into force, as it has now crossed the required threshold of twelve state parties. On 31 May 2026, the contracting parties will submit their HNS contributing cargo data to the IMO Secretariat, which will assess whether the minimum tonnage entry-into-force criterion of 40 million tonnes has been met. If met, the entry into force will take effect 18 months later i.e. 30 November 2027 at the earliest.

LEG 113 approved a circular of the Legal Committee containing guidelines on the registration of ships. The purpose of these guidelines is to help flag States strengthen ship registration procedures, detect fraudulent documentation, and eliminate fraudulent registrations. They cover the registration of merchant ships engaged in international voyages and align with the sovereign rights and obligations of States to establish registries as defined in articles 91 and 92.1 of UNCLOS

LEG 113 established correspondence groups to continue work

• on a regulatory scoping exercise (RSE) to identify relevant existing IMO provisions that Member States can leverage to combat substandard shipping to highlight gaps where provisions are insufficient or underutilized. The Committee approved the thematic approach that had been retained to conduct this exercise and requested that the relevant correspondence group further specify what matters fall within the remit of the LEG Committee and those that should be considered by other IMO Committees.
• on the suitability of the IMO liability and compensation regimes with respect to alternative fuels when used for the operation and propulsion of a ship. The Committee noted findings that the compensation regimes did not sufficiently provide coverage in case of accidents involving the use of alternative fuels and it requested that the relevant correspondence group further advance work to propose solutions to address these gaps.

LEG 113 noted that a new Judicial Sale of Ship (JSS) module was added to the Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) to assist member States in their reporting obligation under the JSS Convention which entered into force in February 202