IMO MEPC.1/Circ.735/ Rev.1
IMO has issued a revised circular with amendments to unified interpretation to regulation 12.2 of MARPOL Annex I. The Marine Environment Protection Committee, at its sixty-fifth session(13 to 17 May 2013),approved the amendments to the Unified Interpretations to regulation 12.2of MARPOL Annex I (MEPC 65/22, paragraph 11.39), as set out in the annex. Member Governments are invited to use the annexed interpretation when applying therelevant provisions of regulation 12.2 of MARPOL Annex I and to bring it to the attention of allparties concerned.
A new Unified Interpretation to regulation 12.2.2 is added as follows:
Regulation 12.2.2 – Sludge tank discharge piping
1 Regulation 12.2.2 should not be retroactively applied to ships deliveredbefore 1 January 2014*
2 There should be no interconnections between the sludge tank dischargepiping and bilge-water piping other than possible common piping leading tothe standard discharge connection referred to in regulation 13.
3 For ships delivered before 1 January 2014*, existing arrangements where theoil residue (sludge) tank(s) have discharge connections to oily bilge waterholding tank(s), tank top or oily water separator may be accepted.
4 Screw-down non-return valves arranged in lines connecting to common pipingleading to the standard discharge connection required by regulation 13, toprevent sludge from discharging to the bilge system, oily bilge water holdingtank(s), tank top or oily water separators, provide a means equivalent to anarrangement that has “no interconnection” or “no discharge connections”as so specified in regulation 12.2 and the Unified Interpretation referencedby paragraph 2.
5 It is understood that the common piping may serve only one purpose and thatis to connect the discharge lines of the bilge and sludge pumps to the standarddischarge connection referred to in regulation 13, or any other approvedmeans of disposal.
Source: IMO ( MEPC.1/Circ.735/ Rev.1)
*Ship delivered before 1 January 2014 means a ship:
1 for which the building contract is placed before 1 January 2011; or
2 in the absence of a building contract, the keel of which is laid or which is at a similar stageof construction before 1 January 2012; or
3 the delivery of which is before 1 January 2014.
