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

NR533 - Approval of service suppliers (edition October 2019)
NI641 - Guidelines for autonomous shipping (edition October 2019)
NR646 - Tentative rules for structural assessment of steel ships (edition September 2019)