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2 HARMFUL AQUATIC ORGANISMS IN BALLAST WATER
2.1 The Committee noted that the Ballast Water Management Convention had been open for signature by Member States from 1 June 2004 to 31 May 2005 and a number of countries had expressed their intention to ratify the Convention through letters to the Secretary General of the Organization.
2.2 The Committee urged all Governments that had contributed to the successful completion of the instrument to sign and ratify the Convention to facilitate its early entry into force.
2.3 The Committee agreed to concentrate in the coming years on creating the right conditions under which the Convention will be implemented and at this session on completing the Guidelines for Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (G8) and the Procedure for Approval of Active Substances (G9) to facilitate the review required under regulation D-5 of the Convention during MEPC 53 in July 2005.
2.4 The Committee noted that 26 documents had been submitted under this agenda item: MEPC 52/2 and MEPC 52/2/12 (United Kingdom), MEPC 52/2/1 (Germany), MEPC 52/2/2 (ISAF), MEPC 52/2/3 (India), MEPC 52/2/4 (Norway), MEPC 52/2/5 and MEPC 52/INF.11 (the Netherlands), MEPC 52/2/6 (Germany, Japan and the Netherlands), MEPC 52/2/7, MEPC 52/2/8 and MEPC 52/2/9 (Japan), MEPC 52/2/10, MEPC 52/2/13, MEPC 52/2/14, MEPC 52/2/15, MEPC 52/2/16, MEPC 52/INF.5 and MEPC 52/INF.14 (United States), MEPC 52/2/11 (IACS), MEPC 52/2/17 (Saudi Arabia), MEPC 52/INF.3 (Dominica), MEPC 52/INF.8 and MEPC 52/INF.9 (Secretariat), MEPC 52/INF.13 (Singapore) and MEPC 52/INF.16 (Brazil).
2.5 The Committee recalled that MSC 78, following a proposal by MEPC 49 to confirm the acceptability of transitory non-compliance with safety regulations when conducting ballast water exchange, instructed the NAV and SLF Sub-Committees to specify the permissible limits of transitory deviation for safety aspects. In this respect, the Committee noted that NAV 50 could only consider the matter on a preliminary basis and would consider the matter further at a future session.
2.6 The Committee further noted that SLF 47 considered the issue of transitory deviation during ballast water exchange under agenda item 'Any other business' and decided to include the subject in the agenda of its next meeting.
2.7 The Committee agreed to consider document MEPC 52/2/11 (IACS), which proposed amendments to MARPOL Annex I in connection with transitory deviations from MARPOL when conducting ballast water exchange under agenda item 6 (Interpretations and amendments of MARPOL 73/78 and related instruments) and to refer document MEPC 52/2/12, which proposed amendments to SOLAS V/22 in connection with transitory non-compliance with SOLAS when conducting ballast water exchange, to MSC for consideration.
2.8 The Committee noted that, following a request by the United Kingdom, legal advice on transitory non-compliance with SOLAS regulation V/22 during ballast water exchange had been provided by the Legal Office of the Organization in document MEPC 52/WP.3.
2.9 The Committee decided to refer document MEPC 52/WP.3 to MSC for consideration together with document MEPC 52/2/12. The matter was further considered under item 6.
2.10 Recalling that MSC 77 included the item "Development of requirements for training in ballast water management" in the agenda of STW Sub-Committee as a high priority, the Committee concurred with the decision of MSC 77 and encouraged delegations and observers to submit relevant proposals for consideration by the STW Sub-Committee.
2.11 The Committee noted that, as instructed by MEPC 51, the FSI Sub-Committee had included an item on "Development of survey guidelines required by regulation E-1 of the Ballast Water Management Convention" in the agenda of FSI 13 and encouraged delegations and observers to submit proposals for consideration by FSI 13.
2.12 The Committee noted the information provided by Singapore and Brazil in documents MEPC 52/INF.13 and MEPC 52/INF.16 regarding the Second International Ballast Water Management Conference and Technology Exhibition, 19 to 21 May 2004, held in Singapore and the implementation of GloBallast programme in Brazil. The Committee thanked Singapore and Brazil for this information.
2.13 The Committee also noted that 26 responses regarding the Ballast Water Management Country Profiles had been received from IMO Member States and urged all delegations to provide the necessary information, according to the questionnaire attached to MEPC/Circ.397, to facilitate the completion of the Ballast Water Management Country Profiles database currently under development by GloBallast.
2.14 The Committee noted that the Ballast Water Working Group met intersessionally from 4 to 8 October 2004 and made significant progress in solving a number of outstanding issues related in particular to Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems (G8) and Procedure for approval of active substances (G9) as indicated in document MEPC 52/WP.2 and presented by the Chairman of the Working Group.
2.15 The Committee noted the intention of the United Kingdom to submit a paper on survey guidelines required by regulation E-1 of the Ballast Water Management Convention to FSI 13.
2.16 The Committee noted that a number of issues were still to be resolved or finalized and agreed to re-convene the Ballast Water Working Group under the Chairmanship of Mr. Mike Hunter (United Kingdom) with the following terms of reference:
.1 to review the draft Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems (G8) and provide text regarding shipboard testing to allow the Committee to make an opt-in/opt-out decision with the view to approve, in principle, the guidelines;
.2 to finalize the draft Procedure for approval of ballast water management systems that make use of Active Substances (G9) with the view to its approval, in principle, by the Committee;
.3 to finalize the Recommendations for the Conduct of the Review of the Status of the Ballast Water Management Technologies set by Regulation D-5 of the Ballast Water Management Convention taking into account Conference Resolutions 2 and 4 with the view of their confirmation by the Committee;
.4 to further develop guidelines (G1), (G2), (G3), (G4), (G5), (G6), (G7), (G10), (G11), (G12) and (G13) taking into account the information contained in documents MEPC 52/2, MEPC 52/2/3, MEPC 52/2/17, MEPC 52/2/16, MEPC 52/INF.8, MEPC 52/2/15, MEPC 52/INF.14, MEPC 52/2/14 to the extent possible in the time available; and
.5 to prepare a written report on the work carried out by the Working Group for consideration by the Committee on Thursday, 14 October 2004.
Report of the Ballast Water Working Group
2.17 The Chairman of the Ballast Water Working Group presented the report on the work carried out by the Group during the intersessional meeting and at this session, as contained in MEPC 52/WP.7.
2.18 The Chairman of the Working Group indicated that, after the completion of its report, the Ballast Water Working Group continued its work informally and further developed the Guidelines for ballast water management and ballast water management plans (G4) and agreed to request the Secretariat to submit the text provided by the Working Group as a document for consideration by MEPC 53.
2.19 The Chairman of the Working Group also indicated that the Group met informally to consider document MEPC 52/2/11 and agreed to support, in principle, the amendment to regulation 30.6.1 of the revised MARPOL Annex I proposed in this document with the following amended wording:
".3 at sea by pumps if the ballast water exchange is performed under the provisions of regulation D-1.1 of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments."
The Group also agreed to include relevant guidance regarding overboard discharge valves in the Guidelines for ballast water exchange design and construction standards (G11).
2.20 The Netherlands' delegation expressed the opinion that it is up to individual States to decide whether the application of a guideline or a procedure is compatible with the legislation as it is applicable in that particular State, including international and regional legislation.
Action taken by the Committee
2.21 Having considered the report of the Ballast Water Working Group (MEPC 52/WP.7), the Committee:
.1 noted the progress made on the Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems (G8), as contained in annex 1 of document MEPC 52/WP.7, but was not in a position to approve the Guidelines as further consideration was needed on the issue of biological efficacy of onboard testing. The Committee agreed to ask DE 48 to consider the draft Guidelines as a top priority and provide comments to MEPC 53. The Committee invited further comments on biological efficacy from Members with a view to adopt the Guidelines at MEPC 53 by an MEPC resolution. The Committee noted the general agreement on the rest of the provisions contained in the Guidelines and agreed that the text could be used by the manufacturers as guidance when further developing relevant technologies;
.2 instructed the FSI Sub-Committee to develop the Guidelines on port State control under the BWM Convention focusing in particular on the sampling of the discharge from BWMS installed on board ships pursuant to Type Approval under the G8 Guidelines or Prototype Approval under the G10 Guidelines;
.3 approved the Procedure for approval of active substances (G9), as contained in annex 2 of document MEPC 52/WP.7, with a view to further consideration for adoption at MEPC 53 by an MEPC resolution;
.4 confirmed the Recommendations for the conduct of the review of the status of the ballast water management technologies, as required by regulation D-5 of the BWM Convention and invited Members to submit relevant information according to these recommendations to facilitate the review during MEPC 53;
.5 agreed to establish a Review Group, in accordance with the provisions of regulation D-5 of the Ballast Water Management Convention, during MEPC 53 to conduct the review of the status of the ballast water management technologies, as required by regulation D-5 of the Convention;
.6 agreed to add a separate item on the agenda of BLG 9 for development, as a matter of priority, of the remaining guidelines for uniform implementation of the BWM Convention and to request the BLG Sub-Committee to report to the Committee to facilitate the adoption of these Guidelines in accordance with the time frame approved at MEPC 51 (MEPC 51/22, annex 1);
.7 invited Member States and observers to contribute to the development of the remaining guidelines by providing information and comments to the co-ordinators of this work, as agreed by MEPC 51, for submission to BLG 9;
.8 invited the Member States and observers to make submissions on guidelines for the declaration of designated areas allowed under Regulation B-4.2 of the BWM Convention to the next meeting of the Committee;
.9 urged the DE, FSI and SLF Sub-Committees to provide their inputs as a matter of priority as per the programme approved by MEPC 51 (MEPC 51/22, annex 1) and invited the Maritime Safety Committee to confirm, at the earliest opportunity, the acceptability of transitory non-compliance with relevant safety regulations when conducting ballast water exchange;
.10 approved the amendment to regulation 30.6.1 of the revised MARPOL Annex I by adding the following wording:
".3 at sea by pumps if the ballast water exchange is performed under the provisions of regulation D-1.1 of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments."
and agreed to insert the text in the revised MARPOL Annex I and instructed the Working Group to include relevant guidance regarding overboard discharge valves in the Guidelines for ballast water exchange design and construction standards (G11);
.11 approved an intersessional meeting of the Ballast Water Working Group at no cost to the Organization during the week before MEPC 53 to further progress the development of the remaining guidelines; and
.12 agreed to convene a Review Group during MEPC 53 to continue the development of the remaining guidelines based on the report of BLG 9 and the outcome of the intersessional work.
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