In 1978, a number of European countries agreed in The Hague to inspect whether the labour conditions on board ships were in accordance with ILO Convention No. 147. However, just as a Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) was about to come into effect in March 1978, a massive oil spill occurred off the coast of Brittany (France) as a result of the grounding of the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Amoco Cadiz. This incident caused a strong political and public outcry in Europe for far more stringent regulations with regard to the safety of shipping. After the Amoco Cadiz incident, it was decided by the members of The Hague Memorandum to also inspect ship safety and environment protection. To this end, on 1 July 1982 the Paris MoU was agreed upon, establishing a common understanding of the implementation of PSC based on international conventions.

In order for PSC in the Union to function, a certain number of decisions are taken in the context of the Paris MoU, by consensus, by its executive body – notably, the "Port State Control Committee" (PSCC) – which meets once year, or at shorter intervals if necessary. By virtue of Directive 2009/16/EC on port State control, decisions taken by the appropriate competent body of the Paris MoU become binding on EU Member States.

Representatives of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) participate as observers in the meetings of the PSCC, as well as representatives of several co-operating Maritime Authorities and other regional agreements on PSC. The MoU Advisory Board (MAB) assists the Port State Control Committee in focusing on key issues and directs the Secretariat or the Paris MoU between Port State Control Committee meetings.

Modelled on the Paris MoU, several other regional MoUs have been signed. The map below shows the areas of regional influence of each of them. The figure shows Signatories to the Paris MoU (light blue, today excluding Russian Federation), Tokyo MoU (red), Indian Ocean MoU (green), Mediterranean MoU (dark green), Acuerdo de Viña del Mar (yellow), Caribbean MoU (olive), Abuja MoU (dark red), Black Sea MoU (cyan) and Riyadh MoU (navy blue). A PSC inspection regime has been also established in the United States of America

map source: Wikipedia.

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