Section 8(4) in The Merchant Shipping (Management for the Safe Operation of Ships) Rules, 2000
(4)For issuing a Safety Management Certificate, the Central Government may have initial verification of a ship by way of:-(a)Verifying that the Company's Document of Compliance is valid and relevant to that type of ship;(b)Verifying audit, in order to verify the effective functioning of the Safety Management System which has been in operation for atleast three months on board the ship.
