May. 17 2015 Home Class & statutory IMO MEPC 68 OVERVIEW LinkedIn Twitter Facebook share Convention BWM Ballast Water Management Greenhouse Gases MARPOL Annex I Oil Pollution MARPOL Annex II NLS MARPOL Annex IV Sewage MARPOL Annex V Garbage MARPOL Annex VI Air Pollution POLAR Code International code of safety for ships operating in polar waters Flag ALL FLAGS Ship typeAll Sea going Ship types IMO MEPC 68 OVERVIEW Bureau Veritas Report on MEPC 68 Introduction The Committee on Marine Environment Protection held its sixty height session from 11 May to 15 May 2015, which took place in IMO headquarters in London. This report provides an overview on main points and results of the agenda items discussed. Agenda items of MEPC 68 1 Adoption of the agenda 2 Harmful aquatic organisms in ballast water 3 Air pollution and energy efficiency 4 Further technical and operational measures for enhancing energy efficiency of international shipping 5 Reduction of GHG emissions from ships 6 Consideration and adoption of amendments to mandatory instruments 7 Amendments to MARPOL Annex V, Form of Garbage Record Book 8 Review of nitrogen and phosphorous removal standards in the 2012 Guidelines on the implementation of effluent standards and performance tests for sewage treatment plants 9 Use of electronic record books 10 Identification and protection of Special Areas and PSSAs 11 Inadequacy of reception facilities 12 Reports of sub-committees 13 Work of other bodies 14 Promotion of implementation and enforcement of MARPOL and related instruments 15 Technical cooperation activities for the protection of the marine environment 16 Capacity building for the implementation of new measures 17 Work programme of the Committee and subsidiary bodies 18 Application of the Committees' Guidelines 19 Election of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman for 2015 20 Any other business 20 Consideration of the report of the Committee Briefing Harmful aquatic organisms in ballast water (Agenda Item 2) - Georgia and Türkiye ratified the convention resulting in a number of ratifying countries of 44 (required 30) and percentage of world merchant shipping tonnage to 32.86% (required is 35%). The BWM Convention will enter into force 12 months after the ratification. - The total number of reported BWM type-approved systems is 57. - The Committee did: . endorse the revised Methodology for information gathering and conduct of work of the GESAMP-BWWG and approve its dissemination as a BWM circular to supersede the existing BWM.2/Circ.13/Rev.2 of April 2014 and agree that the revised Methodology should be applied to all submissions for Basic Approval to MEPC 71 and onwards, and subsequent submissions for Final Approval of those systems; . endorse the conclusion of the Sixth Stocktaking Workshop of the GESAMP-BWWG that the value of the maximum allowable discharge concentration of total residual oxidants of 0.2 mg/L as Cl2 should be changed to 0.1 mg/L as Cl2, to be applied for proposals for Basic Approval of BWMS submitted to MEPC 69 and onwards and subsequent proposals for Final Approval of those systems; . recommend that the information on TRO monitoring provided by applicants for proposals of approval of BWMS making use of Active Substances should include the installation and control scheme (engineering aspects) and the physical/chemical factors (including salinity and water temperature) that affect the accurate reading of TRO in automated in-line monitoring; . invite the Study on the implementati