|
5 CONSIDERATION AND ADOPTION OF AMENDMENTS TO MANDATORY INSTRUMENTS
Revised MARPOL Annex IV
5.1 The Committee recalled that MEPC 44 (6 to 8, 10 and 13 March 2000) considered and approved the revised Annex IV of MARPOL 73/78 with a view to facilitating the entry into force of the Annex and future adoption of the revised Annex when the original Annex had entered into force (MEPC 44/20, paragraph 12.40.1 and annex 10).
5.2 The Committee also recalled that MEPC 49 (14 to 18 July 2003), noting that the original Annex IV would enter into force on 27 September 2003, decided to adopt the revised Annex IV at MEPC 51 (MEPC 49/22, paragraph 16.62).
5.3 The Committee noted that the revised Annex IV had been circulated by the Secretary-General of the Organization, in accordance with article 16(2)(a) of MARPOL 73/78, under cover of Circular letter No. 2496 of 8 August 2003.
5.4 The Committee further noted that, in accordance with the provisions of regulation 11.1.1 of the revised Annex IV, the rate of sewage discharge into the sea shall be approved by the Administration based on standards developed by the Organization and that a document submitted by Australia (MEPC 51/17/5) was intended to address this issue.
5.5 The Committee considered document MEPC 51/5 containing the draft revised Annex IV, its appendix (Form of the International Sewage Pollution Certificate) and the draft MEPC resolution on its adoption, and referred the document to the drafting group for finalization.
5.6 The delegation of the United States drew the attention of the Committee to a communication it sent to the Organization on 4 September 2003 concerning its implementation plan to prepare U.S. flagged vessels for the entry into force of MARPOL Annex IV. Although MARPOL Annex IV has not been ratified by the United States, ships flying its flag on international voyages and sailing in the waters of the countries which have ratified MARPOL Annex IV would need to demonstrate compliance with MARPOL Annex IV. This communication was circulated by the Organization on 22 September 2003 as MEPC/Circ.410.
Amendments to the Appendix to MARPOL Annex V
5.7 The Committee recalled that MEPC 49 (14 to 18 July 2003) considered and approved the proposed amendments to the Appendix to Annex V of MARPOL 73/78 (MEPC 49/22, paragraph 16.52 and annex 22) and decided to adopt the proposed amendments at MEPC 51.
5.8 The Committee noted that the proposed amendments had been circulated by the Secretary-General of the Organization, in accordance with article 16(2)(a) of MARPOL 73/78 under cover of Circular letter No. 2496 of 8 August 2003.
5.9 The Committee considered the text of the proposed amendments in document MEPC 51/5/1 and referred it to the drafting group for finalization.
Establishment of the Drafting Group
5.10 The Committee established the Drafting Group with the following terms of reference:
.1 taking into account the submissions and comments made at plenary to review and finalize the text of the revised Annex IV, and amendments to the Appendix to Annex V of MARPOL 73/78, as well as associated MEPC resolutions, on the basis of documents MEPC 51/5 and MEPC 51/5/1; and
.2 to submit a written report to the plenary by Thursday for consideration and adoption of the amendments to MARPOL 73/78 by the Committee.
Adoption of the amendments
5.11 Having considered the report of the drafting group (MEPC 51/WP.7), the Committee approved it in general and, with regard to the revised Annex IV:
.1 noted that the group had amended regulation 7 on the Form of Certificate in order to include the agreement by MEPC 45 regarding the precedence granted to the language of the issuing country in case of dispute of discrepancy;
.2 noted that the group had re-numbered sub-paragraphs 3.1 to 3.4 and 4.1 to 4.3 in regulation 4 and had given them single-figure paragraph numbers as it was felt that it contributed to greater clarity and logical order in the layout of the paragraph. Cross-references were checked and amended where necessary;
.3 noted that the group had amended the expression 6 kg/cm2 in regulation 10, in the table titled Standard Dimensions of flanges for discharge connections, to read 600 kPa to make it consistent with the SI system;
.4 concurred with the group's view that the standards for the discharge of sewage mentioned in regulation 11.1.1 of the revised Annex IV should be developed as a matter of priority;
.5 in order to comply with the requirements of Assembly resolution A.911(22) on Uniform Wording for referencing IMO instruments, agreed to amend regulation 9.1.1 to read:
"a sewage treatment plant which shall be of a type approved by the Administration, taking into account the standards and test methods developed by the Organization.";
5.12 Having taken the above decisions, the Committee,
.1 adopted the revised MARPOL Annex IV by resolution MEPC.115(51), as set out in annex 5;
.2 adopted amendments to the appendix to MARPOL Annex V by resolution MEPC.116(51), as set out in annex 6;
.3 agreed that both the revised MARPOL Annex IV, and the amendments to the appendix to Annex V, would be deemed to have been accepted on 1 February 2005 in accordance with article 16(2)(f)(iii) of the 1973 Convention, and would enter into force on 1 August 2005 upon their acceptance in accordance with article 16(2)(g)(ii) of the same instrument; and
.4 authorized the Secretariat to effect appropriate corrections in the text of the revised Annex IV, and that of the amendments to the appendix to Annex V, if any inadvertent errors are identified during the preparation of the authentic texts.
6 HARMFUL ANTI-FOULING SYSTEMS FOR SHIPS
6.1 The Committee recalled that the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems for Ships 2001 (AFS Convention) was adopted by the International Conference on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems for Ships on 5 October 2001. As at 31 March 2004, eight Governments representing 9.36% of the world tonnage have ratified the Convention. For the Convention to enter into force, it is necessary that 25 States, the combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less than 25% of the world's merchant shipping, ratify the Convention (article 18 of the Convention).
6.2 The Committee noted that, as stipulated in Article 11(1)(b) and (2), and regulation 1(4)(a) of Annex 4 of the AFS Convention, three different sets of Guidelines had to be developed by the Organization. All the guidelines have been developed and adopted as follows:
.1 the Guidelines for survey and certification of anti-fouling systems on ships were adopted by resolution MEPC.102(48);
.2 the Guidelines for brief sampling of anti-fouling systems on ships were adopted by resolution MEPC.104(49); and
.3 the Guidelines for inspection of anti-fouling systems on ships were adopted by resolution MEPC.105(49).
6.3 The Committee recalled that, in adopting the Guidelines for inspection of anti-fouling systems for ships, MEPC 49 took the view that, once the AFS Convention has entered into force, the Guidelines could form a new appendix to resolution A.787(19), as amended, on Procedures for Port State control, pending a decision by the Committee.
6.4 The Committee noted that no documents on this agenda item had been submitted to the current session and that, given the slow rhythm of ratifications, the AFS Convention is not likely to enter into force in the near future. In this respect, the Committee urged Member Governments to ratify the AFS Convention as soon as possible.
7 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OPRC CONVENTION AND THE OPRC-HNS PROTOCOL AND RELEVANT OPPR CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS
Report of the Technical Group
7.1 The Committee recalled that, at MEPC 49, it approved the Terms of Reference, the Work Plan and Timetable for the OPRC/OPRC-HNS Technical Group (MEPC 49/22, annex 11).
7.2 The Committee noted that the first meeting of the Technical Group was held last week from 23 to 26 March 2004 and its report is contained in document MEPC 51/WP.3.
7.3 Following the presentation of the report of the Technical Group by its Chairman, Mr. Terry Melhuish (Canada), the Committee,
.1 adopted:
.1 the revised Guidance document on bioremediation as set out at annex 2 of the Technical Group report and instructed the Secretariat to issue the document as an IMO publication; and
.2 the revised Manual on Chemical Pollution - Section 2: Search and Recovery of Packaged Goods Lost at Sea as set out at annex 3 of the Technical Group report and instructed the Secretariat to issue the Manual as an IMO publication. The Committee further concurred with the Technical Group's recommendation to have nuclear cargoes woven into the text of Section 2;
.2 approved:
.1 the amended Work Programme for the Technical Group as set out in annex 7; and the items for the forthcoming meeting of the Technical Group as set out at annex 9 of the Technical Group report;
.2 the establishment of an intersessional correspondence group of the Technical Group under the leadership of New Zealand, to develop a draft Manual on Oil Spill Risk Evaluation and Assessment of Response Preparedness and the Terms of Reference as set out in annex 4 of the Technical Group Report;
.3 the establishment of, and the Terms of Reference for, an intersessional correspondence group of the Technical Group under the leadership of the United Kingdom, to develop an IMO web-page on contact addresses on databases that may assist in providing information in cases of accidents involving HNS substances as set out at annex 7 of the Technical Group report; and
.4 the report in general;
.3 urged Members to:
.1 submit to the Secretariat available relevant information on national guidelines and criteria for the accreditation or approval of training organizations and experts to facilitate the preparation by the Secretariat of draft guidelines for the consideration of the Group at its forthcoming meeting; and
.2 notify the Secretariat of the names and contact details of training organizations and experts, which have been nationally approved or accredited and any subsequent changes;
.4 instructed the Secretariat to:
.1 investigate what training materials on response to incidents involving HNS substances there might be available from Member States and organizations. In this respect, the Committee concurred with the Group's view that training materials on response to incidents involving HNS materials to be developed should, as far as possible, be based on materials already developed by other Members or organizations; and
.2 continue promoting the inclusion of response to incidents involving HNS-substances in existing regional arrangements;
.5 noted:
.1 that IAEA calls for IMO co-operation in the development of emergency response arrangements to marine accidents involving radioactive materials;
.2 the view of the Group that an introductory course for senior managers and chief executives should be developed at a later stage if the need arises;
.3 the progress and established deadlines for the finalization of the Introductory and Levels 1, 2 and 3 OPRC Model Training Courses. In this respect, the Committee concurred with the Group's view that for the time being only one Introductory OPRC Model Training Course, aiming at personnel without previous response experience, should be developed;
.4 that the publication - Apell for Port Areas - may be used as a basic document for the development of contingency plans in port areas;
.5 the progress by IPIECA and CEFIC on the development of a basic information document on hazard information, contingency planning and response options;
.6 the offer by Italy to join the work on the development of the guidance document by IPIECA and CEFIC on contingency planning on marine chemical spills;
.7 the Group's view with regard to follow-up activities to the IMO/UNEP Forum on regional arrangements for co-operation in combating marine pollution incidents; and
.8 that the new Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Technical Group are Mr. Ezio Amato (Italy) and Mr. Kevin Colcomb (United Kingdom), respectively.
7.4 With regard to section 7 of the report of the Technical Group and specifically regarding the fact that the OPRC/OPRC-HNS Technical Group meets intersessionally, the delegation of the Russian Federation pointed out the inconvenience it represented for them and probably for other delegations. The Chairman recalled that one of the main reasons to have the Technical Group meet back-to-back with the Committee was that only three working groups during any session were allowed by the Committees' Guidelines. He further recalled the lengthy discussions by the Committee on the issue, which resulted in the elevation of the Working Group to a Technical Group. In the absence of any other comments, the Committee decided to keep the current arrangements.
New Bonn Agreement Oil Appearance Code
7.5 The Committee noted that the document submitted by the OSPAR Commission (MEPC 51/INF.5) provided information on the adoption of the new Bonn Agreement Oil Appearance Code (BAOAC) and that its colour code classification of oil slicks makes it possible to estimate the amount of oil present in the slick with greater accuracy.
7.6 Taking account of the nature of the information provided by the OSPAR Commission, particularly with regard to the work of the Committee in the field of response to pollution by oil, the Committee instructed the OPRC/OPRC-HNS Technical Group to consider the document at its next session and report to MEPC 52.
Implementation of the OPRC 90 Convention in India
7.7 The Committee noted the information on activities by India for the implementation of the OPRC 90 Convention (MEPC 51/INF.3).
|
