Japanese government (hereafter referred to as "JG") has officially approved the issuance of electronic certificates. Given the fact, electronic certificates can be issued to Japanese-flagged vessels and DOC (Document of Compliance) issued to company managing Japanese-flag vessels.

An overview of the electronic certificates issued by ClassNK and the endorsement to electronic certificates issued by JG are given below.

1. Electronic certificates issued by ClassNK (e-Certificate)

On/after 13 February 2023, Class and Statutory Certificates for all Japanese-flagged vessels engaged on international or domestic voyages and DOC issued to company managing Japanese-flag vessels will be issued as electronic certificates in principle. ClassNK e-Certificate is compliant with the IMO FAL Guidelines (FAL.5Circ.39/Rev.2). For further details of our e-certificate service, please refer to the attached "ClassNK e-Certificate User Manual". No application or no registration is required to use our e-Certificate service.

An e-certificate can be downloaded from the URL mentioned in the notification e-mail sent by ClassNK upon completion of survey. The notification e-mail is sent to the e-mail address registered when you apply for the survey. You can also download the latest e-Certificate from the ClassNK system (NK-SHIPS). In case of electronic certificate, since the original is electronic file (PDF file), please keep the downloaded PDF file on board.

If the current certificate is a paper certificate, it will remain valid until the expire date of the certificate. The certificate will be replaced with an electronic certificate upon completion of the next special/renewal survey or when rewriting the certificate due to a change of description on certificate, or when the certificate is reissued.

(To be continued)