1. The Marine Environment Protection Committee,
at its forty-ninth session (14 to 18 July 2003), recognized that original Annex IV of MARPOL 73/78 would enter into
force on 27 September 2003 and that, under the agreement reflected
in resolution MEPC.88(44), Parties
to Annex IV of MARPOL 73/78 would
be requested to implement the revised Annex
IV as set out in annex 10 to MEPC 44/20 which was approved
by the Committee at its forty-fourth session (6 to 8, 10 and 13 March
2000), rather than the existing Annex IV.
2. The Committee further recognized that, although
the revised Annex IV would be circulated for adoption by MEPC 51 in
early 2004, the revised Annex IV would
only become effective in July 2005 and that there would be a possibility
of confusion as to which text, either the original or revised Annex IV, should be applied among Parties
to the Annex.
3. The Committee reconfirmed that Parties be recommended
to apply the revised Annex IV upon
the entry into force of the existing Annex
IV as reflected in operative paragraph 3 of resolution MEPC.88(44);
however, in order to avoid confusion among Parties to Annex IV, the Committee agreed to request
any Parties to Annex IV which may
not be able to modify their national legislation to implement the
revised Annex IV until its entry into
force in July 2005 as expected:
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.1 not to apply, for the purpose of port State
control, requirements of the existing Annex
IV to ships of foreign flag falling under those categories
of ships which will be exempted from application in the revised Annex IV; and
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.2 not to apply any punitive measures for such
ships
during the transitional period from the date of entry into force
of the existing Annex IV until the
date of entry into force of the revised Annex
IV.