The Cargo Mark Convention (Eng. International Convention on Load Lines) is an international convention on the load line , briefly referred to as CGM, signed on April 5, 1966 in London at the initiative of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In 1988, a special Protocol was amended, later, in 2003, supplemented by the IMO Maritime Safety Committee. The amended Load Line Convention (KGM-66/88) entered into force on January 1, 2005 .
The Convention prohibits the ship from going to sea on an international voyage if it has not been properly certified, it has not been marked with a load line and has not been issued an International Load Line Certificate or, when necessary, an International Certificate of Seizure for a load line.
The Annexes to the Convention set the rules for determining the load marks, the conditions of destination and the size of the freeboard, the modification of the convention requirements for zones, areas and seasonal periods, as well as the forms of the International Load Line Certificate.
In 1988, the Protocol to the Load Line Convention, which entered into force in 2000, was adopted. By this Protocol, the requirements of the 1966 Convention regarding the certification and issuance of International Certificates were brought into line with the requirements of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78) and the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).