Regulatory Work Progress of the last MEPC 67

The IMO Committee on Protection of the Marine Environment (MEPC) held its 67^th Session from Monday 13 through Friday 17 October 2014 in IMO Headquarters in London. 93 full and 2 associate Member States attended in addition to representatives from 3 UN Agencies, also 7 observer groups from Intergovernmental, together with 49 Non-Governmental, Organisations.  The number of delegates who attended the meeting was in excess of 1,000.

 The meeting was Chaired by Mr Arsenio Dominguez (PANAMA) and his Vice-Chair, Dr Naomi Parker (NEW ZEALAND);   both were re-elected for 2015 during the course of the meeting.  Three Working Groups (WG) one Drafting Group (DG) and one Review Group (RG) were formed and chaired as follows:

Amendments to mandatory instruments

The Committee established DG1 on Amendments to Mandatory Instruments.  It approved DG1’s subsequent report in general, and, in particular adopted draft amendments together with associated MEPC resolutions, to:

1. regulation 43 of MARPOL Annex I related to the special requirements for the use or carriage of oils in the Antarctic area;
2. the appendix to MARPOL Annex III, Criteria for the identification of harmful substances in packaged form;  and
3. MARPOL Annex VI, regulations 2 and 13 and the Supplement to the IAPP Certificate.

Review of nitrogen and phosphorus removal standards in the 2012 Guidelines on the implementation of effluent standards and performance tests for sewage treatment plants

Some delegations expressed support for the proposal by CLIA to amend the 2012 Guidelines by adopting less stringent standards, arguing that the available information on STPs type approved to the removal standards in resolution .227(64) is not sufficient to instil confidence within the industry.  However a majority of delegations spoke in favour of retaining the current standards on the premise that manufacturers will be able to develop a sufficient number of STPs, type approved to the current removal standard before the effective date of the Baltic Sea special area.  Following discussion, the Committee thus agreed not to change the removal standard.  Given the lack of available information on reception facilities, the earliest effective date for implementation in the Baltic Sea special area, i.e. 1 January 2016, will not be met, however the issue of implementation dates will be further discussed at MEPC 68.  

Inadequacy of reception facilities 

Owing to time constraints, this item was deferred to MEPC 68.

Reports of the Sub-Committees

1. PPR1.  The Committee approved the final version of the draft ‘Guidance on the safe operation of oil pollution combating equipment’ prepared by PPR1.
2. SSE1.  The Committee approved a draft amendment to regulation 12 of MARPOL Annex I and a draft UI of regulation 12.3.3 of MARPOL Annex I (held in abeyance for approval at MEPC 70, after the deemed acceptance date of the particular MARPOL amendment).
3. III 1.    i.  Interim guidelines on the use of printed versions of electronic certificates.  PSC regimes will be encouraged to fully implement the Guidelines without applying additional conditions and for port States and PSC regimes to work towards acceptance of printed versions of electronic certificates as recommended in the Guidelines.  It was also noted that FAL 39 had approved ‘Guidelines for the use of electronic certificates’ ii.   Guidelines for port State control officers on the ISM Code.  The Committee agreed that prior to agreeing a draft MSC-MEPC.4 circular on this matter and subject to the concurrent decision of MSC 94, the draft Guidelines will be referred to the HTW Sub-committee for comment.  iii. UI on keel laying date for fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) craft.  The Committee approved, subject to the concurrence of MSC 94, a draft MSC-MEPC 5 circular on a UI relating to the keel laying date for FRP craft. 

Correspondence Groups

The Committee agreed to establish the following inter sessional correspondence groups, which will report to MEPC 68.

Further Technical and Operational Measures for Enhancing the Energy Efficiency of International Shipping;

1. Review of Fuel Oil Availability;
2. Fuel Oil Quality; and
3. Review of the States of Technological Development for Implementation of the EEDI.

An inter-sessional meeting of the ESPH Working Group will also be held in September / October 2016 subject to Council endorsement.

Source: InterManager

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