The 627th Meeting of the Association’s Board of Directors was held on 25 November 2025 and alterations to the following Rules were approved to be effective from 20 February 2026. Details of these alterations will be reported to the Members in a Club circular to be issued in early February 2026.

Rule 2 (DUTIES OF DISCLOSURE AND NOTIFICATION) 2 & 3; Rule 10 (CONTINUATION OF INSURANCE CONTRACT) The heading & 5; Rule 11 (CESSATION OF INSURANCE CONTRACT) 2; Rule 12 (LAID-UP RETURNS) 3; Rule 16 (MAINTENANCE OF CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE WITH STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS) 1(5); and Rule 42 (CLAIM OF INSURANCE MONEY) 3

Under the Rules, there are several provisions that require Members to provide information or give notice to the Association as necessary for insurance contracts. These notifications and disclosures are currently required to be made in writing. However, since in practice email is frequently used, this amendment aims to reflect actual practice by allowing such notifications to be made not only in writing but also by email (with the details of the changes included in the body of the message).

Rule 35 (RISKS GENERALLY EXCLUDED) 1(8)

This Rule sets out the liabilities and expenses that are excluded from cover. Item (8) stipulates that special operations differing from normal navigation are generally excluded from standard cover. The proposed amendment adds the use of bubble curtains to this list.

A bubble curtain is used, for example, during the construction of offshore wind farms to reduce underwater impact noise generated by piling and similar operations. As such activities constitute special operations that differ from the normal navigation of a vessel, the International Group of P&I Clubs has agreed to exclude them from standard cover. Accordingly, this item is to be added to the list of general exclusions.

Rule 35 (RISKS GENERALLY EXCLUDED) 1(15)

In recent years, there have been serious incidents such as fires and explosions caused by undeclared dangerous goods loaded in containers. In light of such risks, the International Group of P&I Clubs has decided that, where a carrier has waived, limited, or failed to incorporate, recourse rights that would otherwise be available under the Hague Rules, the Hague-Visby Rules, or equivalent carriage conditions, liabilities arising therefrom will in principle be excluded from cover, and recovery will only be permitted at the discretion of the Board. This new item is introduced to align with that position.

Article 29, Paragraph 2, Item (1) already excludes cover for cargo-related liabilities and expenses aggravated by carriage under conditions less favourable to the carrier than those under the Hague or Hague-Visby Rules. Under the new item, however, the exclusion will extend in principle to all losses arising in connection with contracts of carriage by sea, not limited to cargo damage.

For details of this new item, please refer to Circular No. 25-012, “Rights of Recourse.”