The special status is reflected in the following agreed set of questions and answers:
Is Part B of the Code mandatory?
Answer:No.
Can Part B be ignored by ratifying Members?
Answer:No.
Is implementation of Part B verified by port State inspectors?
Answer:No.
Does the ratifying Member have to follow the guidance in Part B?
Answer: No,
but if it does not follow the guidance it may – vis-à-vis the competent bodies of the International Labour Organization – need to justify the way in which it has implemented the corresponding mandatory provisions of the consolidated Convention.
Since part B is not mandatory, why is it part of the convention and not the subject of an international labour recommendation?
Part A and Part B of the Code are interrelated. The provisions of Part B, called Guidelines, while not mandatory, are helpful and sometimes essential for a proper understanding of the Regulations and the mandatory Standards in Part A. In some cases, the mandatory Standards in Part A are so generally worded it may be difficult to implement them without the guidance in the corresponding provisions of Part B.