Circular issued by International Group clubs This Circular informs Members of the latest developments towards standardisation of procedures concerning evidence of Club cover and certification of insurance required by the international liability compensation regimes adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The practice whereby flag state authorities issue certificates based on written confirmation from the insurer that the necessary cover is in force – so-called “Blue Cards” – dates back to 1975, when certificates of insurance were first issued to ships on the entry into force of the Civil Liability Convention 1969 (CLC 69).   The international regime of compensation for oil pollution from tankers has since grown to a point where 160 States are now parties to CLC 69 or its successor, CLC 92.  It has long been the accepted practice among the States Parties to recognise International Group Clubs as approved insurers, and to issue certificates based on their Blue Cards. In the last decade the normal form of Blue Cards has been brought into line with modern forms of electronic document exchange, and the vast majority of administrations now accept electronic Blue Cards as Portable Document Format (PDF) files. The Clubs are not aware of any instance of a forged Blue Card being presented in support of an application for a certificate. Nonetheless, a very small number of administrations have continued to require hard copy Blue Cards, with some even maintaining additional requirements, such as that Blue Cards be embossed with Club stamps, or printed on watermark paper.    Whilst the Clubs have made every effort to accommodate such requirements in the context of the Civil Liability Conventions, which apply only to oil tankers, the workload involved has grown considerably with the entry into force of the Bunkers Convention, as this applies to a far larger number of ships.  Indeed, the administrative burden will present a major