International Ship Security Certificate (ISSC)

The ISPS requirements apply, inter alia, to cargo ships of 500 GT and above and to passenger ships regardless of size, engaged on international voyages. These ships must carry an International Ship Security Certificate (ISSC) by which the flag state administration confirms that the security system has been verified, the ship complies with all requirements and a ship security plan (SSP), approved by the flag state administration, is available. The ISSC must be presented regularly at inspections of the ship in ports. A missing or expired certificate may imply heavy sanctions.

Procedure

A full term ISSC may only be issued after:

• the approved ship security plan has been implemented on board of the ship for at least 30 days, and
• a Recognized Security Organisation, (RSO), recognized by the BSH, has carried out an initial verification of compliance with all relevant requirements.

Therefore, an interim-ISSC is issued for newbuildings and for ships changing flag. The interim-ISSC is valid for a maximum period of 6 months and may not be extended! A second interim-ISSC is only issued in exceptional circumstances.

The issuance of a (full-term or interim) ISSC must be applied for at the BSH with the following documents to be submitted:

• the completed Application for the issuance of an Interim-ISSC and ISSC, incl. enclosure;
  you can e-mail this application form to maritime.security@bsh.de without a signature,
• a copy of the previous (full-term or interim) ISSC of a foreign flag,
• the latest verification record of the RSO or flag state administration of the ship security plan (SSP) under the previous flag,
• a confirmation of the RSO that the new (German) SSP has been submitted and is available on board of the ship,
• a copy of the extract from the shipping register, and
• proof that the ship safety alert system (SSAS) on board of the ship is operational (report of a test alarm after change of flag).
  
  

In addition, if a ship is newly built, the management has changed or if it is changing to the German flag, a confirmation by a RSO must be submitted that an interim verification (pre-audit) has been carried out..

The initial-verification on board by the RSO may only be carried out after the ship security plan has been approved and placed on board at least 30 days prior. Its purpose is a detailed verification of the entire security system on board of the ship. Upon successful verification, the BSH will be directly informed by the RSO and will issue the full-term ISSC for a period of validity of 5 years. To maintain the validity of the certificate over the entire period an intermediate verification has to be carried out by a RSO between the second and the third anniversary date of the certificate.