Rules & Guidelines

Bureau Veritas develops Rules, Rule Notes and Guidance Notes to benefit our clients, partners, and the marine industry overall. We use the vast experience of our engineers, gained through years of service in the marine industry, combined with advanced research into structure and hydrodynamics, to ensure development of the most relevant and up-to-date Rules.

Bureau Veritas provides a collection of more than 140 technical documents freely available for download.
Rules and Rule Notes (NR) are technical publications related to marine units and/or specific equipment for marine and offshore units. These documents detail applicable requirements for certification and classification by Bureau Veritas.
Guidance Notes (NI) offer information and technical advice on specific points related to marine units. These documents may not to be considered Rules or Rule Notes for the classification and certification of marine units.

Check the latest updates

NR544 - Equipment and Materials Certification Requirements for the Classification of Inland Navigation Vessels/Units (edition June 2020)
NR626 - Anchor Windlass (edition June 2020)
NI 525 - Risk-based qualification of new technology - methodological guidelines (edition April 2020)
NR646 - Amendments to the tentative rules for structural assessment of steel ships (edition April 2020)
NR483 - Amendments to the Rules for naval ships (edition April 2020)
NI596 - EU RO mutual recognition (edition February 2020)
NR529 - Gas fuelled ships (edition January 2020)
NR533 - Approval of service suppliers (edition January 2020)
NR467 - Rules for the classification of steel ships (edition January 2020)
NR625 - Structural rules for container ships (edition January 2020)
NI615 - Buckling assessment of plated structures (edition January 2020)