The Faroe Islands has become an Associate Member of IMO, following the deposit with the United Nations of notification to this effect by Denmark.

IMO now has 162 Member States and three Associate Members, which are: The Faroe Islands (Denmark); Hong Kong (China); and Macau (China).

Notes:
In its notification to the United Nations, deposited on 3 December 2002, Denmark noted that The Faroe Islands is a part of the Danish Realm with a wide measure of home rule in legislative and administrative affairs. With effect from 1 January 2002, legislative and administrative powers were transferred from the authorities of the Realm to The Faroe islands in a number of additional fields including matters related to safety at sea, and the Faroe Islands Home Government expressed its strong desire to become an Associate Member of IMO.

Article 72 of the IMO Convention provides that "Members may make a declaration at any time that their participation in the Convention includes all or a group of a single one of the Territories for whose international relations they are responsible".

Article 8 of the IMO convention provides that "Any Territory or group of Territories to which the Convention has been made applicable under Article 72, by the Member having responsibility for its international relations or by the United Nations, may become an Associate Member of the Organization by notification in writing given by any such Member or by the United Nations as the case may be, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations".

For further information please contact:
Lee Adamson, Public Information Manager on 020 7587 3153 (ladamson@imo.org) or
Natasha Brown, Information Officer on 020 7587 3274 (nbrown@imo.org).