Release of Edition 2 of the Australian Code of Practice for the Design, Construction, Survey and Operation of Autonomous & Remotely Operated Vessels

By Rachel Horne, General Manager—Law, Regulation and Assurance, TAS

Access the updated Australian Code of Practice Edition 2

On 24 November 2023 Trusted Autonomous Systems (TAS) released Edition 2 of the Australian Code of Practice for the Design, Construction, Survey and Operation of Autonomous & Remotely Operated Vessels (‘Australian Code of Practice Edition 2’).

The Australian Code of Practice provides a best practice standard tailored for autonomous and remotely operated vessels operating in Australia. It is a voluntary standard, developed in close consultation with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and Australian industry, intended to be used to support assurance, accreditation and safe operations. Background information on the Australian Code of Practice project is available here.

Edition 2 of the Australian Code of Practice was developed in response to further feedback from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and to ensure alignment with AMSA’s Novel Vessel Policy Statement released in June 2022. The key updates in Edition 2 are:

  • clarification that vessels greater than 12 metres in length, or intending to carry people, must be surveyed by a Recognised Organisation and comply with the rules and requirements of a Recognised Organisation;
  • clarification of the vessel categories under the Code of Practice. In particular, autonomous and remotely operated marine equipment are now a subset of the survey-exempt vessel category;
  • inclusion of a definition of ‘situational awareness’; and
  • changes to align with the wording of the new Marine Order 504 (Certificates of operation and operation requirements — national law) 2018 which commenced on 1 August 2023.

TAS, supported by Australian Maritime College Search, also developed a suite of Guidance Materials to support the use of the Australian Code of Practice. Revised Guidance Materials aligning with the updated Australian Code of Practice.

Access the Guidance Materials here.

These Guidance Materials explain how the Australian Code of Practice fits into the existing Australian maritime regulatory framework, how to use the Code, and what the requirements are for each category of vessel, together with providing examples and information on where to access further information.

TAS encourages owners, operators, surveyors, regulators and other users of the Australian Code of Practice Edition 2 and updated Guidance Materials to provide feedback to TAS, to help inform future iterations.

Where can I get more information?

To access more information on the Australian Code of Practice Edition 2, you can:

TAS would like to thank all parties who contributed to the development of the Australian Code of Practice, including particularly Maaike Vanderkooi of Vanderkooi Consulting who led the development of the Code (Edition 1 and Edition 2) on TAS’s behalf, Rob Dickie of Frazer Nash Consultancy who led the COLREGs project on TAS’s behalf, together with his team Marceline Overduin and Andrejs Jaudzems, and Chris White from AMC Search who led delivery of the Guidance Materials, together with his team Reuben Kent, Damien Guihen, and Nick Bonser.