IMO issues amendments to the BWM Convention

The International Maritime Organization has issued resolution MEPC.383(81) with amendments to the BWM Convention.

THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COMMITTEE,

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,

RECALLING ALSO article 19 of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (the BWM Convention), which specifies the amendment procedure and confers upon the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the Organization the function of considering amendments thereto for adoption by the Parties,

HAVING CONSIDERED, at its eighty-first session, proposed amendments to regulations A-1 and B-2 of the BWM Convention regarding the use of electronic record book,

1. ADOPTS, in accordance with article 19(2)(c) of the BWM Convention, amendments to regulations A-1 and B-2, the text of which is set out in the annex to the present resolution;
2. DETERMINES, in accordance with article 19(2)(e)(ii) of the BWM Convention, that the amendments shall be deemed to have been accepted on 1 April 2025 unless, prior to that date, more than one-third of the Parties have notified the Secretary-General that they object to the amendments;
3. INVITES the Parties to note that, in accordance with article 19(2)(f)(ii) of the BWM Convention, the said amendments shall enter into force on 1 October 2025 upon their acceptance in accordance with paragraph 2 above;
4. REQUESTS the Secretary-General, for the purposes of article 19(2)(d) of the BWM Convention, to transmit certified copies of the present resolution and the text of the amendments contained in the annex to all Parties to the BWM Convention;
5. ALSO REQUESTS the Secretary-General to transmit copies of the present resolution and its annex to Members of the Organization which are not Parties to the BWM Convention;
6. FURTHER REQUESTS the Secretary-General to prepare a consolidated certified text of the BWM Convention.

ANNEX

AMENDMENTS TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT OF SHIPS' BALLAST WATER AND SEDIMENTS
(Use of electronic record books)

Regulation A-1
Definitions

A new paragraph 9 is inserted after existing paragraph 8, as follows:

"9. Electronic record book means a device or system, approved by the Administration, used to electronically record the entries for each ballast water operation as required under this Convention in lieu of a hard copy record book."

Regulation B-2
Ballast Water Record Book

Paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

"1. Each ship shall have on board a Ballast Water Record Book, that may be an electronic record book, or that may be integrated into another record book or system, and which shall at least contain the information specified in appendix II. Electronic record books shall be approved by the Administration taking into account the guidelines developed by the Organization*."

Paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

"5. Each operation concerning ballast water shall be fully recorded without delay in the Ballast Water Record Book. Each entry shall be signed by the officer in charge of the operation concerned and each completed page shall be signed by the master or, in the case of a group of electronic entries, shall be verified by the master in a timely manner. The entries in the Ballast Water Record Book shall be in a working language of the ship. If that language is not English, French or Spanish, the entries shall contain a translation into one of those languages. When entries in an official national language of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly are also used, these shall prevail in case of a dispute or discrepancy."

*Refer to the Guidelines for the use of electronic record books under the BWM Convention (resolution MEPC.372(80), as may be amended).

For more information, please see the document below (available only to subscribers):

Amendments to the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004