Circular issued by International Group clubs TO THE MEMBERS 27 November 1997 Dear Sirs, UNITED STATES OIL POLLUTION  Vessel Response Plans - Contracts for Services  This circular is addressed to all shipowner Members including owners of dry cargo vessels and tankers. Previous advice to Members on the terms of contract which are required under the Federal regulations on vessel response plans in the United States has concentrated on four issues which are of importance to the Associations, as well as to the Member. These are the scope of indemnities contained in these contracts, provisions for control of the contractor's operations by the owner, provisions for funding of the contractor's invoices and warranties by the contractor that he is competent to perform the contracted service. In the course of preparation of Members' Vessel Response Plans (VRPs) during 1993,  a large number of contracts for various services, particularly of companies acting  as "qualified individual" (QI) and oil spill response organisations (OSROs) were reviewed by the Managers of the Associations/Clubs in the International Group either at the request of individual Members or the contractors themselves. In many cases this review process included a discussion with the contractor concerned on modification of the originally proposed contract terms so as to conform with general guidelines suggested by the Managers/Clubs. These guidelines are attached as Appendix 1 to this circular. As a result of this review process many contracts were confirmed (a) to contain an indemnity which could be covered by the Association and (b) generally, in respect of other provisions in the contract, not to conflict with the guidelines suggested by the Managers/Club. It is inevitable that this confirmation has been regarded by contractors and Members alike as "approval by the International Group of P&I Clubs". The present position is that many contractors have made amendments to their contr