1.3 About the contribution
This contribution, as the headline indicates, will discuss the role of classification societies as executives of public authority. First,, in part 2, the overall legal framework is presented for the classification societies' exercise of competence on behalf of the Danish Maritime Authority. The international, regional and national rules will be discussed and the legal basis for the delegation of competence will be presented. In part 3, the focus rests instead on the statutory status and obligations of the classification societies. In part 4, the contribution will then briefly compare the Danish regulation with corresponding regulations in Norway and Sweden, before part 5 contains some general conclusions and some judicial policy considerations for statutory self-regulation.