Are inspections only carried out in ports which adopted Green Award?
No, inspections are carried out worldwide. For now the inspectors are based in Rotterdam. Travel and accommodation expenses will be charged. When sailing schedules are known, inspections will be clustered to areas in order to minimise travel costs.

The requirements might be revised yearly. Does a vessel always have to comply with newly issued requirements?
The initial inspection of the vessel will be carried out to verify compliance with the requirements valid for the current year. During the validity (3 years) of the Certificate two annual inspections will be carried out to check whether those requirements are still met. At the inspection for the renewal of the Certificate, compliance with the new requirements are verified.

Will the vessel lose the Certificate when she is involved with a pollution incident?
That depends on the origin of the incident, the follow-up and the corrective measures taken to prevent reoccurrence. An additional audit and/or obtaining information from a third party might be applicable.

We have two sister vessels. If one is Green Award certified, is it necessary to inspect the other vessel as well?
The Certificate applies to one vessel exclusively. It is quite possible that after an audit of both vessels, the rating will be different regarding the management requirements.

Our vessel is fully managed by a shipmanagement company. Will the vessel lose her certificate when transferred to another shipmanagement company?
Normally the vessel will lose the Certificate. If the owner desires a continuation of participation, then an audit has to be carried out at the office of the shipmanager and subsequently the vessel will be re-inspected. In case the ship manager had already been Green Award audited in connection with other vessels, only a re-inspection of the vessel might be applicable.

Is it necessary for a port, which want to provide incentives, to have its own audit procedures?
No. In order to maintain a uniform standard of policy, strategy and inspection and to keep the operational costs of the system as low as possible, the system will be operated from the Bureau Green Award as an executive body of the Green Award Foundation. The Foundation Committee and Board of Experts are formed by international representatives from the respective entities form the Foundation Committee and Board of Experts. Reference is made to the Green Award manual "Seacure for Operations", also available on this site, which will show the Green Award Regulations amongst others. The Articles of the Foundation are available on request.

Will our shipping office be audited every year?
No, this will be done in connection with the first vessel entering the scheme. A re-audit is performed after a period of three years or depending on experiences encountered on the vessels of the owner/manager.

Do we have to pay an application fee again when the certificate will be renewed after three years?
As long as the participation of a vessel to the Green Award Scheme is not interrupted, an application fee is due once and for the years thereafter only an annual fee is applicable.

How long does a Green Award office audit or ship survey take? And how many Green Award representatives will perform the audits and surveys?