The 80th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), 3-7 July 2023, adopted the revised Guidelines for the control and management of ships’ biofouling to minimize the transfer of invasive aquatic species (Biofouling Guidelines).
The 2023 Guidelines expand on and update the previous version, with a view to strengthening it and increasing its uptake. The Biofouling Guidelines were first adopted in 2011 and are intended to provide a globally consistent approach to the management of biofouling.
The MEPC 72 session (2018) decided to initiate a review, to take into account best practices and experience as well as the latest research.
The GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling Partnerships Project and the related TEST (Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies) Biofouling Project, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) support developing countries to implement the Biofouling Guidelines.
