1 With regard to the issuance of International
Ballast Water Management Certificates prior to entry into force of
the BWM Convention, the Committee noted the
concern that the Convention allows no phase-in period for ships constructed
prior to the entry into force of the Convention to comply with its
provisions. This would result in all ships of 400 gross tonnage and
above to have on board an approved Ballast Water Management (BWM)
Plan and be surveyed and certificated immediately on the entry into
force of the Convention.
2 The Committee agreed that it would be impracticable,
for those responsible, to prepare, review and approve BWM Plans and
survey and certify all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above within
the 12-month period between the date when the conditions for entry
into force have been satisfied and the actual entry-into-force date
of the Convention.
3 To address this impracticality, MEPC 63 endorsed
the conclusion of the Ballast Water Review Group with regard to Contracting
Governments to the BWM Convention issuing International
Ballast Water Management Certificates prior to entry into force of
the Convention, provided it is annotated to state that validity begins
from the entry-into-force date, combined with a statement issued to
the Company when the BWM Plan was received, thereby allowing the vessel
to trade for three months with an unapproved BWM Plan on board.