IMO Legal Committee 112th session, held from March 24th to 28th, 2025, at the IMO Headquarters in London. Key outcomes for LEG 112 are as follows:
IMO adopted the Guidelines to protect seafarers from unfair treatment when detained in foreign jurisdictions concerning alleged crimes committed at sea.
The Guidelines aim to protect seafarers’ rights and ensure they are treated fairly in all jurisdictions. It covered issues related to due process, protection from arbitrary detention, coercion, or intimidation, and ensuring that wages, medical care, and repatriation rights remain intact during any legal proceedings. It also urged the improvement of coordination among countries, including port States, flag States, coastal States, States of which the seafarer is a national, as well as shipowners and seafarers.
2. Addressing the seafarer abandonment issue
IMO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) had set up a database (IMO/ILO joint database) on Abandonment of Seafarers, a collaborative effort to tackle the urgent problem of seafarers being abandoned in ports worldwide. According to the database, 310 new cases were reported in 2024, more than double the 142 cases recorded in 2023.
LEG 112 also urged Member States and stakeholders to implement the "Guidelines on how to deal with seafarer abandonment cases" (Resolution LEG.6(110)), emphasizing the development of national Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for flag States, port States, and countries of seafarers' nationality or residence.
IMO also confirmed the effort of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) for the ongoing work by the Task Force to review and update the ILO/IMO Joint abandonment database.
The HNS Convention was adopted by an international conference in 1996, superseded by the 2010 Protocol in April 2010, but has not yet entered into force. It aims to ensure adequate, prompt, and effective compensation for those affected by incidents involving hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) carried on ships. This is particularly relevant given the increasing amounts of chemicals and new fuels transported in bulk in ships.
Currently, there are eight Contracting States to the 2010 Protocol to the HNS Convention, five of which have more than 2 million units of gross tonnage each. Which means there’re only four more ratifications with the required contributing cargo to meet the entry-into-force requirements of the Protocol.
Belgium, Germany, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Sweden, and Finland have provided information about their progress towards ratification in a coordinated manner. Once those ratifications are complete, the requirements of the entry-into-force would be met. IMO encouraged more Member States to ratify and bring into force the 2010 HNS Protocol as well.
LEG 112 continues to examine legal issues, in particular the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which would be relevant, such as search and rescue obligations, jurisdiction over remote operations centers, workforce impacts, regulatory standardization, and liability frameworks.
LEG approved the report of the third meeting of the Joint MSC-LEG-FAL Working Group on MASS (MASS-JWG 3), held in May 2024. LEG also revised the Mass Road Map to comply with the MASS Road Map plan of the MSC 109, and extended the goal to 2027.
5. Substandard shipping – new output approved for regulatory scoping exercise
LEG 112 had discussed the need to address the issue of substandard shipping regulatory scoping exercise (RSE), for the rise of cases on unlawful operations, which distort the global playing field and increase risks to safety, security, and the environment. Approved the proposal to conduct a regulatory scoping exercise to review IMO conventions and other tools available to Member States, with the aim of developing actions to prevent unlawful operations, including substandard shipping.
A correspondence group was established to start working on this new output, following approval of the IMO Council in July 2025.
LEG 112 reaffirmed the importance of due diligence, transparency, and international cooperation to prevent fraudulent registries and false flags. From the report of the Correspondence Group established at LEG 110, the concerns were raised regarding the " Due Diligence" processes in the ship registration issues.
Most Member States confirmed that they review paper documents and verify information during ship registration, utilizing technical platforms for cross-verification to prevent the misuse of IMO identification numbers. However, systemic issues such as insufficient manpower, delays in information sharing, and complex ownership structures can be exploited by malicious actors to commit fraudulent registrations. To address these challenges, the Legal Committee agreed to continue its work on preventing fraudulent ship registrations and the misuse of IMO identification number schemes.
The proposal received strong support, with members agreeing to include it in the 2026-2027 agenda. LEG 112 approved a new output on the Title: “Suitability of IMO liability and compensation regimes with respect to alternative fuels”. LEG will conduct a gap analysis to determine whether new legal instruments are necessary or if amendments to existing frameworks are sufficient, with a target completion year of 2027.
The new output will consider the continuing and widespread uptake of alternative fuels, including ammonia, methanol, hydrogen, biofuels, and liquified natural gas (LNG), which present different risks to those posed by traditional hydrocarbon mineral fuels, such as oil. The aim is to assess whether existing liability and compensation frameworks remain adequate.
1. IMO, Legal Committee, 112th session (LEG 112), 24- 28 March 2025. https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/MeetingSummaries/Pages/LEG-112th-session.aspx
2. IMODOCS, LEG 112/WP.1/Rev.1.
3. 大連海事大學，《IMO LEG 112主要成果》。https://imcrc.dlmu.edu.cn/info/1128/8729.htm