(21)Fifth, section 1.3 of part 2 of the RO Code defines ‘statutory certification and services’ as a single category of activities that a recognised organisation is entitled to perform on behalf of the flag State, including the issuance of certificates pertaining to both statutory and class requirements. In contrast, the definitions set out in Article 2(i) and (k) of Directive 2009/15/EC draw a clear distinction between ‘statutory certificates’, which are those certificates issued by or on behalf of a flag State in accordance with the international conventions, and ‘class certificates’, which are those documents issued by a recognised organisation, in its capacity as class society, certifying the fitness of a ship for a particular use or service in accordance with the rules and procedures laid down and made public by that recognised organisation. It follows that, under Union law, statutory and class certificates are distinct and have different natures. Namely, statutory certificates have a public nature, while class certificates have a private nature, being issued by the class society in accordance with its own rules, procedures and conditions. It follows that classification certificates issued by a recognised organisation for a ship in order to attest compliance with classification rules and procedures, including when verified by a flag State as proof of compliance with SOLAS Chapter II-I, Part A-1, Regulation 3-1, are documents of a strictly private nature which are neither acts of a flag State nor carried out on any flag State's behalf. In the RO Code however, ‘statutory certification and services’ are systematically referred to as being performed by the RO ”on behalf of the flag State”, contradicting the legal distinction established in Union law. Notwithstanding this contradiction, this provision of the RO Code, if accepted as a norm in the Union legal order, entails a manifest risk that the recognition requirements contained in Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 which pertain to the entire activity of the organisation, irrespective of flag, could no longer be enforced within the EU. Due to the link between the two instruments as explained in recital (2), this risk is also relevant to Directive 2009/15/EC.