11.1 The Committee noted the outcome of the Legal Committee, at its ninety-first session, concerning the draft convention on wreck removal, fair treatment of seafarers, places of refuge, implementation of the HNS Convention after the entry into force of the Revised MARPOL Annex II and abandonment of ships on land or in ports, which were brought to its attention (LEG 91/12; MEPC 55/11). The Legal Committee had, in particular, noted that the expected entry into force of the revised MARPOL Annex II, on 1 January 2007, would render meaningless the reference in article 1.5(a)(ii) of the HNS Convention to "noxious liquid substances carried in bulk" to Appendix II of MARPOL Annex II, as amended, as from that date, Appendix II, as such, would cease to exist.

　

11.2 The Legal Committee was therefore invited to consider adopting a resolution addressing this referencing issue, which it did, in view of the fact that "noxious liquid substances carried in bulk" remained covered by regulation 1.10 of the revised Annex II. This resulted in resolution LEG.4(91) on Implications for the reference in article 1.5(a)(ii) of the HNS Convention to "noxious liquid substances carried in bulk" as shown in MEPC 55/11, annex 1.

　

11.3 Since the adoption of the Legal Committee's resolution in April 2006, the conditions for the deemed acceptance of the 2004 amendments to MARPOL Annex II as per resolution MEPC.118(52) had indeed been met on 1 July 2006, and the revised MARPOL Annex II would enter into force on 1 January 2007.

　

11.4 The Committee, being responsible for MARPOL Annex II, agreed to incorporate the contents of resolution LEG.4(91) into a resolution of its own and hence adopted resolution MEPC.160(55) on Implications for the reference in article 1.5(a)(ii) of the HNS Convention to "noxious liquid substances carried in bulk", as shown in annex 29 to this report.

　

　

11.5 The Committee was informed of the outcome of the eighty-first session of the Maritime Safety Committee held in May 2006 and as reported in MSC 81/25.

　

11.6 The Committee noted that the outcomes of MSC 81 on Human Element (HE); Formal Safety Assessment (FSA); Work Programme of the Committee and subsidiary bodies and the Application of the Committees' Guidelines were reported under agenda items 17, 18, 19 and 20, respectively.

　

11.7 The Committee noted, in general, the outcomes of MSC 81 on the many other issues of relevance to MEPC (MEPC 55/11/2) and took the action of MSC into account, as appropriate, in its decisions at this session.

　

　

11.8 The Committee was informed of the outcome of the fifty-sixth session of the Technical Co-operation Committee held in June 2006 and as reported in TC 56/12. The Committee noted, in general, the outcomes of TC 56 related to marine environment protection issues (MEPC 55/11/4) and took the action of TC into account in its decisions, as reported under item 16 of this report concerning the Technical Co-operation Programme.

　

　

11.9 The Committee was informed of the outcome of the thirty-third session of the Facilitation Committee held in July 2006 and as reported in FAL 33/19. FAL had, in particular, noted the outcome of MEPC 54 regarding the proposals to provide electronic access to IMO certificates and documents and agreed with MEPC's view that it should explore the matter further, including the reliability and security of databases on online access to ships' certificates and documents. FAL had urged Member States and organizations to submit relevant proposals for its consideration and also had noted MSC's recommendation that a step-by-step approach should be applied and that an electronic access to certificates would not be considered as an alternative to the physical inspection of the certificates and could, possibly, serve in the context of the prioritization of port State control inspections (MEPC 55/11/5).

　

11.10 The Committee noted that FAL 33 had established the Correspondence Group on Electronic Access to IMO Certificates and Documents, under the co-ordination of ICS^* and with the terms of reference as shown in document MEPC 55/11/5, paragraph 4. The Committee invited interested delegations and international organizations to participate in the work of this FAL correspondence group.

　

　

11.11 The Committee was informed of the outcome of the ninety-sixth session of the Council held in June 2006 and its summary of decisions was issued in C 96/D. The Committee noted in general the matters of interest to it, as summarized in document MEPC 55/11/6, including the Council's decision concerning the report of MEPC 54.

　

11.12 The Committee noted, in particular with regard to the Council's request in paragraph 3 of MEPC 55/11/6, that the Committee should review the feasibility of including, within the scope of the Voluntary IMO Member State Audit Scheme, security related and other functions not presently covered, as well as their implications, as stipulated in operative paragraph 1 of resolution A.975(24). In this connection, the Committee noted that the Code for the implementation of mandatory IMO instruments (resolution A.973(24)), which served as the audit standard, currently included all the MARPOL Annexes and relevant Codes. The Committee agreed that, as soon as other environmental conventions, such as the AFS and BWM Conventions, came into force, it would consider whether to include these in the scope of the Audit Scheme.

　

　

11.13 The Committee recalled that MEPC 53 had established a Joint London Convention-MEPC Correspondence Group to examine two issues related to the boundary between MARPOL Annex V and the London Convention and Protocol concerning:

　

 The Committee also developed terms of reference, as reflected in its report (MEPC 53/24, paragraph 6.11). Subsequently, the 27^th Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention had agreed to this Joint Correspondence Group and the terms of reference, as proposed.

　

11.14 The delegation of Canada, as the lead country for the Joint Correspondence Group, introduced its report (MEPC 55/11/3). While no major overlaps were found between the London Convention and Protocol and MARPOL Annex V, some clarifications were provided regarding the applicability of the London Convention and Protocol to spoilt cargo. The Joint Correspondence Group recommended the establishment of a working group which could be set up under the Consultative Meeting, to develop practical guidance for mariners and possibly to address other joint issues relating to spoilt cargoes. The report also presented in paragraph 48 some suggestions, from a waste management perspective, for the planned review of MARPOL Annex V.

　

11.15 In concluding on this issue, the Committee:

　

11.16 The Committee expressed its appreciation to the Chairman (Mr. P. Topping, Canada) and the members of the Joint Correspondence Group for the work carried out and the excellent report presented.

　

　

11.17 The Committee noted an overview (MEPC 55/11/8) as well as an update of the GESAMP activities in 2006 confirming the revitalization of GESAMP after a long period of re-orientation and review and after it had received substantial support (US$ 1,100,000) from the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) for the period 2006 to 2008, on the condition that GESAMP:

　

11.18 The Committee noted also that the Swedish Maritime Administration would second a Junior Professional Officer to IMO from 20 November 2006 to assist with the co-ordination of GESAMP activities for a two-year period.