RECALLING Article 38(a) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Marine Environment
Protection Committee conferred upon it by the international conventions
for the prevention and control of marine pollution,
RECALLING ALSO that the International Conference on Ballast
Water Management for Ships held in February 2004 adopted the International
Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water
and Sediments, 2004 (the Ballast Water Management
Convention) together with four Conference resolutions,
NOTING that Regulation A-2 of
the Ballast Water Management Convention requires that discharge of
ballast water shall only be conducted through Ballast Water Management
in accordance with the provisions of the Annex to the Convention,
NOTING FURTHER that Regulation
B-3.6 of the Ballast Water Management Convention provides that,
the requirements of ballast water management standards do not apply
to ships that discharge ballast water to a reception facility designed
taking into account the Guidelines developed by the Organization for
such facilities,
NOTING ALSO that resolution 1 adopted by the International
Conference on Ballast Water Management for Ships invited the Organization
to develop these Guidelines as a matter of urgency,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its fifty-fifth session, the draft
the Guidelines for ballast water reception facilities (G5) developed
by the Ballast Water Working Group, and the recommendation made by
the Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation at its fourteenth session,
1. ADOPTS the Guidelines for ballast water reception
facilities (G5) as set out in the Annex to this resolution;
2. INVITES Governments to apply these Guidelines
as soon as possible, or when the Convention becomes applicable to
them; and
3. AGREES to keep the Guidelines under review.