The applicable international instruments referred to in Article 2, which are applied in accordance with Article 3(1), shall be those which have entered into force, including the most recent amendments thereto, with the exception of the amendments excluded from the scope of this Regulation resulting from the conformity checking procedure established by paragraph 5.

The Commission shall decide on the integration of amendments to the international instruments referred to in Article 2 in respect of ships operating domestic services and the port facilities serving them to which this Regulation applies, in so far as they constitute a technical update of the provisions of the SOLAS Convention and the ISPS Code. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(4); on imperative grounds of urgency, the Commission may have recourse to the urgency procedure referred to in Article 11(5). The procedure for checking conformity established in paragraph 5 of this Article shall not apply in these cases.

The Commission may adopt provisions in order to define harmonised procedures for the application of the mandatory provisions of the ISPS Code, without broadening the scope of this Regulation. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(4).

On imperative grounds of urgency, the Commission may have recourse to the urgency procedure referred to in Article 11(5).

For the purposes of this Regulation and with a view to reducing the risks of conflict between Community maritime legislation and international instruments, Member States and the Commission shall cooperate, through coordination meetings and/or any other appropriate means, in order to define, as appropriate, a common position or approach in the competent international fora.

A procedure for checking conformity is hereby established in order to exclude from the scope of this Regulation any amendment to an international instrument only if, on the basis of an evaluation by the Commission, there is a manifest risk that such an amendment will lower the standard of maritime security or be incompatible with Community legislation.

The procedure for checking conformity may be used solely to make amendments to this Regulation in the fields expressly covered by the procedure referred to in Article 11(2) and strictly within the framework of exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission.

In the circumstances referred to in paragraph 5, the procedure for checking conformity shall be initiated by the Commission, which, where appropriate, may act at the request of a Member State.

The Commission shall submit to the Committee set up in Article 11(1), without delay, after the adoption of an amendment to an international instrument, a proposal for measures with the aim of excluding the amendment in question from this Regulation.

The procedure for checking conformity, including, if applicable, the procedures set up in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC, shall be completed at least one month before the expiration of the period established internationally for the tacit acceptance of the amendment concerned or the envisaged date for the entry into force of said amendment.

In the event of a risk as referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 5, Member States shall refrain, during the course of the procedure for checking conformity, from taking any initiative intended to integrate the amendment in national legislation or to apply the amendment to the international instrument concerned.

All relevant amendments to international instruments that are integrated in Community maritime legislation, in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6, shall be published, for information purposes, in the Official Journal of the European Union.