The Marine Environment Protection Committee,
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Resolutions - Marine Environment Protection Committee - Resolution MEPC.300(72) - Code For Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS Code) - (Adopted on 13 April 2018) - The Marine Environment Protection Committee,

The Marine Environment Protection Committee,

 The Annex of this document is stored in Rulefinder as a code under the title “ BWMS Code - Code For Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems”.

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 international conventions for the prevention and control of marine pollution from ships,

NOTING that regulation D-3 of the Annex to the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (the BWM Convention), provides that ballast water management systems used to comply with the Convention must be approved by the Administration,

NOTING ALSO that it adopted, by resolution MEPC.125(53), Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems (Guidelines (G8)), and by resolutions MEPC.174(58) and MEPC.279(70) revisions thereof,

DESIRING to make the Guidelines (G8) mandatory under the BWM Convention in the form of a code for approval of ballast water management systems,

NOTING resolution MEPC.296(72), by which it adopted amendments to regulations A-1 and D-3 of the BWM Convention to make the provisions of the Code for Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems referred to above mandatory,

RECALLING that it agreed, at its sixty-eighth session, to provisions for non-penalization of early movers that have installed ballast water management systems approved taking into account resolutions MEPC.125(53) and MEPC.174(58), as contained in the Roadmap for the implementation of the BWM Convention,

BEARING IN MIND the Organization's established practice with regard to the validity of type approval certification for marine products (MSC.1/Circ.1221), which is that the Type Approval Certificate itself has no influence on the operational validity of existing ballast water management systems approved and installed on board a ship and manufactured during the period of validity of the relevant Type Approval Certificate, meaning that the system need not be renewed or replaced due to expiration of such Certificate,

HAVING CONSIDERED, at its seventy-second session, the draft Code for Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems,

1 ADOPTS the Code for Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS Code), as set out in the annex to the present resolution;

2 INVITES Parties to the BWM Convention to note that the BWMS Code will take effect on 13 October 2019 upon entry into force of the associated amendments to the BWM Convention;

3 AGREES to keep the BWMS Code under review in the light of experience gained with its application and to amend it as necessary;

4 DECIDES that ballast water management systems approved not later than 28 October 2018, taking into account the Guidelines (G8) adopted by resolution MEPC.174(58), may be installed on board ships before 28 October 2020;

5 RESOLVES that, for the purpose of operative paragraph 4 of this resolution, the word "installed" means the contractual date of delivery of the ballast water management system to the ship. In the absence of such a date, the word "installed" means the actual date of delivery of the ballast water management system to the ship;

6 RESOLVES that references to the Guidelines (G8) and 2016 Guidelines (G8) in existing IMO instruments should be read to mean references to the BWMS Code;

7 AGREES that the dates referenced in this resolution will be considered in any reviews carried out in accordance with regulation D-5 of the BWM Convention, to determine whether a sufficient number of appropriate technologies are approved and available;

8 RESOLVES to revoke the 2016 Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems (G8) adopted by resolution MEPC.279(70) when the BWMS Code takes effect;

9 REQUESTS the Secretary-General to transmit certified copies of the present resolution and the text of the BWMS Code contained in the annex to all Parties to the BWM Convention;

10 REQUESTS FURTHER the Secretary-General to transmit copies of the present resolution and the text of the BWMS Code contained in the annex to the Members of the Organization which are not Parties to the BWM Convention.

Parent topic: Resolution MEPC.300(72) - Code For Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS Code) - (Adopted on 13 April 2018)
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