Legal character of agreements entitling classification institutions to conduct maritime administration tasks

Thin article addresses a new type of agreement that entitles classification institutions to execute certain functions of the maritime administration. In the maritime trade, classification institutions, in addition to their classification and assessment activities, are assuming increasingly certain public functions that are executed under the supervision of maritime administration bodies. This supervision is ensured above all. by two legal institutions: aprobation and authorization. The significance of the aprobation process for classification institutions may be apparent in the fact that aprobation if conducted by the European Commission. In evaluating the character of the agreement entered into by the Minister of Marine Management with aprobation classification institutions, the author of the article emphasizes a series of particular traits of the agreement that stem from the infiltration of elements of both public and private law. The author postulates the creation of a new category of agreement, that of so-called public contracts.