Commandant
2100 Second Street, S.W.
United States Coast Guard
Washington, DC 20593-0001
(202) 267-1217
COMDTINST 16715.5
20 MAY 1994
COMMANDANT INSTRUCTION 16715.5
Subj:
MARINE SAFETY CENTER REGULATION INTERPRETATION RESPONSIBILITY
1.
PURPOSE. This instruction is promulgated to notify Coast Guard personnel involved in the
Commercial Vessel Safety Program of the expansion of the Marine Safety Center's
authority to make interpretations of regulations related to vessel plan review. No longer
will issues requiring interpretation of existing regulations and technical requirements have
to be forwarded to Commandant for action. This will now be within the purview of the
MSC. This change in approval authority is consistent with the MSC's new role as the
maritime community's "window" to technical issues in the Coast Guard Commercial Vessel
Safety Program.
2.
ACTION. Area and district commanders, commanders maintenance and logistics
commands, commanding officers of headquarters units and Commander, Coast Guard
Activities Europe shall ensure wide dissemination of the information in this instruction.
3.
BACKGROUND. Historically, the Marine Safety Center has concentrated its resources on
detailed review of drawings and calculations submitted to demonstrate compliance with the
Code of Federal Regulations. Interpretations of the regulations and other technical
requirements have been reserved for Commandant. However, since innovative, dynamic
markets force vessel designers to push the design envelope, this division of decision making
authority has not proved responsive enough in the present engineering environment.
Frequently, the plan review process involves designs for which regulatory interpretations
are essentia prior to system approval. The authority for these technical determinations has
previously rested with the Marine