Ratification
A1. The IMO and the international regulatory frameworkDefinition
Formal consent of a state to be bound by a treaty it has signed.
Ratification is the formal act by which a state that has signed a treaty consents to be bound by it, usually after domestic parliamentary approval. The instrument of ratification is deposited with the depositary, the IMO Secretary-General for most maritime conventions. Ratification, acceptance, approval, and accession have the same binding effect; they differ in whether the state signed first.
Source: Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Articles 14-16