Status of the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities to be strengthened

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has launched a legislative project aimed at the adoption and national implementation of the Convention on the International Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation.

At its General Assembly in May 2014, the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) decided that its status should be changed into that of an official international organisation. The Association stated that one reason for changing its status was to reinforce the weight of its recommendations.

The IALA, which is already known in Finland as an international organisation for marine aids to navigation, publishes recommendations, guidelines and manuals on marine aids to navigation. They aim to harmonise the aids on an international scale. For example, the IALA publishes recommendations and guidelines related to the buoyage system. The status of an international organisation would give the organisation more weight. Finland considers its membership important, because it means opportunities to influence the preparation of the recommendations and guidelines.

The text of the Convention was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference in Kuala Lumpur in February 2020 and signed in Paris in June 2021. A change from a French association governed by private law to an international organisation requires a convention that the states will ratify in accordance with their own national procedures.

The IALA was founded in 1957. Finland has been a member since 1959. Its main representative is the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.

What's next?

The draft bill for the ratification and acceptance of the Convention on the Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation is to be circulated for comments in spring 2022. The Convention will enter into force on the ninetieth day after the deposit of the thirtieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

Inquiries:

Heidi Mäntylä, Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 342 073, heidi.mantyla(at)gov.fi, Twitter @heidimantylae