Traditionally, IMO and various maritime administrations have not developed structural standards. Instead, they have relied on classification societies to develop such standards. The recent Common Scantling Rules developed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) have resulted in new structural design codes for tankers and bulk carriers. The development of these common rules clearly shows the tendency of moving towards limit state design. Therefore, a logical future step should be to consider also the most important Accidental Limit States (ALS), including collisions and groundings, in these Common Structural Rules.