The Marine Environment protection Committee,
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Resolutions - Marine Environment Protection Committee - Resolution MEPC.290(71) - The Experience-Building Phase Associated with the BWM Convention - (Adopted on 7 July 2017) - The Marine Environment protection Committee,

The Marine Environment protection Committee,

RECALLING Articles 38(a) and 38(b) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Marine Environment Protection Committee conferred upon it by international conventions for the prevention and control of marine pollution from ships, and its functions for considering appropriate measures to facilitate the enforcement of such conventions,

RECALLING ALSO that the International Conference on Ballast Water Management for Ships held in February 2004 adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (the Convention),

CONSIDERING that the entry into force of the Convention on 8 September 2017 will represent the beginning of global ballast water management, and that challenges may arise during the implementation of any new convention that were not foreseen at the time of its adoption,

RECOGNIZING the concerns of the shipping industry regarding the potential penalization of shipowners and operators during the implementation of the Convention due to non-compliance with the performance standard of the Convention for reasons beyond the control of the shipowner and ship's crew, as well as the need to protect the environment, human health, property and resources from the discharge of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens in any non-compliant ballast water,

DETERMINED to monitor the implementation of the Convention so as to identify aspects of the implementation that are working well and to shed light on issues that require further attention,

PREFERRING to develop most improvements to the Convention as a package, following a systematic and evidence-based approach, and informed by experience gained during the implementation of the Convention,

1 AGREES to establish an experience-building phase associated with the Convention (ballast water experience-building phase), as set out in the annex to this resolution;

2 URGES port States, flag States and other stakeholders to gather, prepare and submit data to the ballast water experience-building phase, taking into account the Guidelines for port State control under the BWM Convention (resolution MEPC.252(67)), Guidance on ballast water sampling and analysis for trial use in accordance with the BWM Convention and Guidelines (G2) (BWM.2/Circ.42/Rev.1) and the survey guidelines under the Convention;

3 RESOLVES to undertake an analysis of the data gathered and a systematic and evidence-based review of the text of the Convention and develop a package of amendments to the Convention as appropriate;

4 AGREES that, during the ballast water experience-building phase, a ship should not be penalized (sanctioned, warned, detained or excluded) solely due to an exceedance of the ballast water performance standard described in regulation D-2 of the Convention following use of a ballast water management system (BWMS), provided that:

  • .1 the BWMS is approved in accordance with regulation D-3.1;

  • .2 the BWMS has been installed correctly;

  • .3 the BWMS has been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions;

  • .4 the Ballast Water Management Plan approved in accordance with regulation B-1 of the Convention has been followed, including the operational instructions and the manufacturer's specifications for the BWMS; and

  • .5 either the self-monitoring system of the BWMS indicates that the treatment process is working properly, or the port State has been advised that the BWMS is defective prior to the discharge of any ballast water;

5 FURTHER AGREES that the measures in paragraph 4 above do not pertain to other actions of the port State pursuant to Articles 9.3 and 10.3 of the Convention concerning protection of the environment, human health, property and resources;

6 RECOMMENDS that the port State, flag State and shipowner should take into account any guidelines developed by the Organization on contingency measures in determining the most appropriate solution to allow for the discharge of non-compliant ballast water.

Parent topic: Resolution MEPC.290(71) - The Experience-Building Phase Associated with the BWM Convention - (Adopted on 7 July 2017)
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