The West of England P&I Club informs about recent changes in the law regarding the imposition of fines for vessels allegedly found to have discharged contaminated segregated ballast water in the Ukraine.The law in the Ukraine regarding the control of segregated ballast water on board vessels has recently changed. If a vessel has segregated ballast tanks, ecological inspectors are no longer permitted to board, inspect IOPP certification, take segregated ballast water samples for analysis or impose fines on the grounds that the vessel has discharged contaminated segregated ballast water. Moreover, ecological inspectors in Ukraine are no longer included in the list of official personnel required to board vessels in order to issue inward clearance.However, in spite of the new legislation, ecological inspectors may still try to board vessels with segregated ballast tanks during cargo operations and demand to take samples of the ballast water. As the inspectors are no longer authorised to do so, masters are advised to reject their demands and invite the inspectors to return once a Club correspondent or local lawyer is in attendance. The Club says that Masters may use the following extract from the Ukrainian Ecological Regulations, translated by Dias Marine Consulting, to justify their refusal to ...
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