Port State control is not a new concept in the international maritime context. The right of Contracting Governments to inspect foreign ships calling their ports and anchorages was already built into the SOLAS Convention 1929 and agreements regionally established worldwide – in the form of Memoranda of Understanding – addressed, over the years, a common operational approach to enforce relevant requirements to achieve the goals of the safety of navigation and the of life at sea, the marine environmental sustainability and satisfactory living and working conditions on board – as well as a the fair competition in sea transports – by eradicating substandard shipping.

In the international maritime law, the flag State – notably the State whose nationality is held by a ship – has the primary responsibility over its own merchant fleet based on the legal assumption that the ship a sort of floating portion of its territory.

There would not be the necessity for the PSC to back up the system if the flag States had really enforced the safe operation of the ships entitled to fly their flags (Williamson, 1996).

Nevertheless, lack of implementation and/or enforcement of international Conventions often coupled with a poor monitoring and control of the performances of the fleet, as well as the deliberated practise of shipowners to take advantages of flag States offering a lower taxation and minimal regulation which is reflected in more financial advantages – the so-called issue of “flags of convenience” – have made that port State control arose as “second line of defence” [(or  “enforcement agency” (Bloor et al., 2006) or “third-party control” (Mejia, 2005)]  to guarantees that foreign ships do not jeopardize marine safety, security, and the environment.

At international level, the IMO Instruments Implementation (III) Sub-Committee establishes the Correspondence and Working Groups on Measures to Harmonized Port State Control (PSC) Activities and Procedures Worldwide.  

The Groups are tasked to develop and update, on regular basis, the Procedures for port State Control a view to harmonizing PSC activities worldwide. They also consider and discuss issues raised in the context of inspections, such as implementation of IMO instruments and amendments thereto, Concentrated Inspection Campaigns (CICs), PSC data management and information exchange, statistics and analysis of PSC activities and data and relevant training tools.

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