The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network has admitted three major classification societies as members after its General Assembly voted in April to open the organisation’s membership to this sector, a development reported on 25 September 2026.
At its General Assembly on 30 April 2026, members of MACN voted in favour of opening membership to classification societies, and the network has now welcomed ABS, DNV and RINA as the first such societies to join, the report said.
New membership category
The decision formally creates a new membership avenue within MACN, extending the anti-corruption network’s reach beyond owners, operators and cargo interests to include entities that carry out statutory and technical oversight on behalf of the maritime community, a change confirmed by the 30 April vote.
Following the change in membership rules, MACN announced the admission of ABS, DNV and RINA as the inaugural classification society members, marking the first time these types of organisations have been admitted to the network’s membership, according to reports account published on 25 September 2026.
Strengthening integrity across the maritime value chain
MACN framed the extension of membership as part of an effort to strengthen integrity across the maritime value chain, an objective that underpinned the General Assembly vote and that the network highlighted when reporting the new admissions, the source noted.
By broadening its membership, MACN has moved to bind additional parts of the maritime ecosystem into the same anti-corruption framework in which its existing members operate; the inclusion of classification societies is presented as a step intended to align more actors against corrupt practices without altering the network’s stated aims.
reports’s report recorded the two-stage timeline clearly: the procedural change was approved at the General Assembly on 30 April 2026 and the subsequent welcome to ABS, DNV and RINA was published on 25 September 2026, establishing both the decision date and the announcement date for the expansion of membership.
The network’s first classification society members were explicitly named in the report, and the development was presented as a landmark adjustment to MACN’s membership composition, with the admission of the three societies representing the immediate practical outcome of the April resolution.
The admission of ABS, DNV and RINA to MACN represents a formal extension of the network’s participant base and completes the procedural steps approved by members at the General Assembly; the news was carried by reports on 25 September 2026 and stands as the latest public record of the change in MACN’s membership policy.