7.1 The Committee had for its consideration under this agenda item documents MEPC 55/7 (Secretariat), MEPC 55/7/1 (Secretariat) and MEPC 55/WP.1 (Report of the fifth meeting of the OPRC-HNS Technical Group).

　

　

7.2 The Committee considered document MEPC 55/7 (Secretariat) presenting a final draft text of a Guidance document on planning and response to chemical releases in the marine environment, as agreed by the fourth meeting of the OPRC-HNS Technical Group.

　

7.3 The delegation of the Netherlands, in considering the document, recognized it to be a useful guidance manual; however, it noted that the nomenclature was not consistent with that used in other IMO publications on similar topics and also that it did not include any reference to the Globally Harmonized System for chemicals. It was further noted that section 3.3 addressed operational discharges, as allowed under MARPOL, therefore, in its view, falling outside of the response and preparedness scope of the manual. As such, the delegation of the Netherlands recommended the removal of section 3.3 from the manual.

　

7.4 The observer from CEFIC, as a participant in the correspondence group charged with drafting the manual, indicated that the section had been included to familiarize readers with the hazards associated with bulk chemicals and, as such, felt that it should remain.

　

7.5 Further to some discussion on the matter, the Committee ultimately approved the draft text, with section 3.3 remaining, and:

　

　

7.6 The Committee considered document MEPC 55/7/1 (Secretariat) providing an overview of the work undertaken by IMO, REMPEC and the wider international community in response to the Lebanon oil spill crisis and noted the information contained therein.

　

7.7 In particular, the Committee noted the work of IMO and REMPEC, since the beginning of the incident, to ensure a timely and co-ordinated response to the spill through the mobilization of resources to assist the government of Lebanon in managing and responding to the incident, the deployment of numerous experts to assist the Ministry of Environment in the co-ordination of incoming international assistance into Lebanon, and the support provided in developing a US$ 50 million oil spill clean-up and capacity building project for inclusion in the national recovery and reconstruction appeal, launched in late August 2006.

　

7.8 In noting the information provided, the Committee expressed its appreciation to IMO and to REMPEC for their efforts in responding to the oil spill in Lebanon and acknowledged the wide support provided by many countries, international organizations and non-governmental organizations in this regard, as set out in the annex to MEPC 55/7/1.

　

7.9 The Committee also urged Member States to replenish the resources which had been utilized from the Marine Pollution Response Fund (US$ 100,000) in order to allow the Secretariat to maintain a minimum level of preparedness for future incidents.

　

7.10 The delegation of the United States highlighted the work carried out in the United States in connection with the oil spill in Lebanon, noting, in particular, the establishment of the Lebanon Oil Spill Working Group, an interagency group led by the US Department of State, with participation of National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Coast Guard (CG), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which was established in the early stages of the incident to monitor events, co-ordinate with the Lebanese authorities and to identify the nature of assistance to be provided by the United States in response to the spill.

　

7.11 The Committee also noted the information provided by the United States with regard to the assistance it was currently providing in response to the oil spill in Lebanon, notably, the US$ 5 million dollar contract initiated with US-based spill contractor SEACOR to undertake the clean-up of the northern Lebanese coastline, an initiative which was developed in consultation with the Lebanese Ministry of Environment and the international spill response co-ordination efforts provided by REMPEC.

　

7.12 Having considered the information presented by the delegation of the United States, the Committee concurred with the proposal for the Technical Group to look into lessons learned from the response to the Lebanon oil spill.

　

　

7.13 The Committee noted that the fifth session of the OPRC-HNS Technical Group was held from 2 to 6 October 2006 under the Chairmanship of Mr. Ezio Amato (Italy).

　

7.14 In introducing the report of the Technical Group (MEPC 55/WP.1), the Chairman stated that the OPRC-HNS Technical Group had made considerable progress on its work programme. He then presented the main outcome of the fifth Technical Group meeting, which is summarized in the following paragraphs.

　

　

7.15 The Committee, having noted the progress made on the Manual on oil spill risk evaluation and assessment of response preparedness and the proposed restructuring to deliver more practical guidance to end users, concurred with course of action taken by the Group to finalize the document through a correspondence group co-ordinated by Canada (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 3.2 to 3.8).

　

7.16 The Committee noted the progression of the IMO/UNEP Manual on the assessment and restoration of environmental damage following marine oil spills taking into account, in particular, the lengthy discussion and ultimate conclusions reached by the Group to address the comments received from UNEP, some of which involved substantial changes to the scope and content of the manual. The Committee further noted the work to be carried out by the IMO and UNEP Secretariats to address the new and revised content, which would ultimately be turned over to a correspondence group under the co-ordination of Italy, to finalize and to submit a revised draft to TG 6 (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 3.9 to 3.16).

　

7.17 The Committee noted the progress made by the Group and the advanced state of the revision of the Manual on oil pollution, Section V - Administrative aspects of oil pollution response, and instructed the Secretariat to finalize the text and submit the finalized draft for approval by MEPC 56 (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 3.17 to 3.22).

　

7.18 Having considered the discussion and recommendation of the Technical Group with regard to a revision of the Manual on oil pollution, Section I - Prevention, given its wider application, rather than updating the 'MARPOL - How to do it' manual, the Committee approved the revision of the Manual on oil pollution, Section I, accordingly (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 3.23 to 3.31).

　

7.19 The Committee considered the discussions of the Group with regard to the development of guidance materials to address the legal and administrative aspects of HNS incidents and concurred with the need to consider materials that may be available from Maritime Administrations as a source of information for determining the exact nature and scope of guidance materials required internationally, to be eventually developed by the Group (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 3.32 to 3.38).

　

　

7.20 The Committee, in noting the delay in the development of the two introductory courses on preparedness for and response to HNS due to financial resource constraints in the first half of 2006, which prevented the recruitment of the consultants to further develop the draft courses in time to be considered by TG 5, instructed the Secretariat to take all necessary measures to secure the required financing to advance the development of the course for submission to the Technical Group at its sixth session (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 4.2 to 4.4).

　

7.21 The Committee noted the progress in the revision of the OPRC Train-the-Trainer course and the establishment of a correspondence group to advance the work on the course revision, taking into particular account the experiences of and materials available from CEDRE, which were developed on the basis of the OPRC course, but modified to better meet the needs of trainees (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 4.5 to 4.10).

　

7.22 The Committee approved the MEPC Circular (MEPC.1/Circ.538) containing a Briefing package for senior government officials and high-level executives in the event of major oil spills (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 4.11 to 4.14 and annex 1).

　

　

7.23 Having noted the preliminary discussions undertaken by the Group with regard to the organization of a Fourth R&D Forum and noting, in particular, the preference for organizing such a Forum in conjunction with another relevant international symposium, such as INTERSPILL in 2009, with HNS and heavy oil suggested as possible themes, concurred with the need to identify appropriate partners for co-organization and co-funding of a fourth Forum (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 5.1 to 5.6).

　

7.24 The Committee also noted the information provided to the Technical Group by the delegation of Poland with regard to the recent Balex Delta Exercise 2006, an annual pollution response exercise that took place under the umbrella of the Helsinki Convention in Gdynia, Poland, from 5 to 7 September 2006.

　

7.25 The Committee further noted the information presented to the Technical Group by the delegation of the Russian Federation during its presentation on the following exercises:

　

　

7.26 The Committee acknowledged the activities and co-operation undertaken by the Secretariat with other international organizations noting, in particular, IMO's contribution to the 2006 edition of the Joint Radiation Emergency Management Plan of the International Organizations, the 2006 IMO/UNEP Forum on regional co-operation in combating marine pollution and the memorandum of understanding signed with the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit formalizing co-operative arrangements in the event of an emergency involving both organizations (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 6.2 to 6.4).

　

7.27 The Committee took into account the review by the Group of the information contained in document MEPC 55/7/1 on the activities undertaken by IMO and REMPEC in the response to the Lebanon oil spill crisis, which would also be presented directly to the Committee when considering the same document (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 6.7 to 6.12).

　

　

7.28 The Committee took note of the Group's consideration of reports on the implementation of Technical Co-operation activities in connection with OPRC and HNS, as outlined in the MEPC documents on this subject (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 7.1 to 7.6).

　

　

7.29 The Committee approved the work programme and provisional agenda for the sixth meeting of the OPRC-HNS Technical Group, as set out in annex 19.

　

7.30 The Committee also approved the scheduling of the sixth session of the OPRC-HNS Technical Group meeting the week prior to MEPC 56, at a location to be decided taking into account offers made by the delegation of the United Kingdom and France, in the event that the renovations at Albert Embankment were not yet complete and approved the report in general (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 9.7 to 9.10).

　

　

7.31 The Committee welcomed the election of Mr. Mark Meza (United States) as Chairman, and Mr. Nick Quinn (New Zealand) as Vice-Chairman of the Technical Group for the three-year period 2007 - 2009 (MEPC 55/WP.1, paragraphs 9.1 to 9.3).

　

7.32 Correspondingly, the Committee duly thanked the present Chairman, Mr. E. Amato (Italy), for his contribution to the work of the Committee on OPRC-HNS matters and his stewardship of the Technical Group during his three years as Chairman.