RECALLING Article 38(a) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Marine Environment
Protection Committee conferred upon it by the international conventions
for the prevention and control of marine pollution,
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 Ballast Water Management
Convention) together with four Conference resolutions,
NOTING that regulation A-2 of
the Ballast Water Management Convention requires that discharge of
ballast water shall only be conducted through Ballast Water Management
in accordance with the provisions of the Annex to the Convention,
NOTING FURTHER that regulation
D-4.3 of the Ballast Water Management Convention provides that,
in establishing and carrying out any programme to test and evaluate
promising Ballast Water technologies, Parties shall take into account
Guidelines developed by the Organization,
NOTING ALSO that resolution 1 adopted by the International
Conference on Ballast Water Management for Ships invited the Organization
to develop these Guidelines as a matter of urgency,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its fifty-fourth session, the draft
Guidelines for approval and oversight of prototype ballast water treatment
technology programmes developed by the Ballast Water Working Group,
1 ADOPTS the Guidelines for approval and oversight
of prototype ballast water treatment technology programmes as set
out in the annex to this resolution;
2 INVITES Governments to apply the Guidelines
as soon as possible, or when the Convention becomes applicable to
them; and
3 AGREES to keep the Guidelines under review.