International Maritime Organization and How it works. Edward Kleverlaan IMO Technical Officer Marine Environment Division

International Maritime Organization Specialized United Nations agency ‘Safe, secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans’ Is the competent international organization for regulating shipping matters (e.g. UNCLOS Art 211) Maintains balance between protection of the environment and navigation rights The International Maritime Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for measures to improve the safety and security of international shipping and to prevent marine pollution from ships. It also is involved in legal matters, including liability and compensation issues and the facilitation of international maritime traffic. It was established by means of a Convention adopted under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva on 17 March 1948 and met for the first time in January 1959. It currently has 167 Member States.

Global coverage 168 Member States All major ship owning nations All major port & coastal states Industry Peak bodies, and, IGOs and NGOs IMO now has 168 member states, which includes virtually all of the nations of the world with an interest in maritime affairs, be they involved in the shipping industry or coastal states with an interest in protecting their maritime environment. In addition, a number of inter-governmental and non—governmental organizations, representing a wide variety of interests ranging from industry sectors to environmental groups, have consultative status with the Organization and can attend meetings. Their input to the whole process of developing and refining international standards for shipping is greatly valued.  

Headquarters in London – United Kingdom

Headquarters in London – United Kingdom

International Maritime Organization Develops global regulations - maintain safety and security of international shipping and to prevent marine pollution from ships Involved in creating liability and compensation regimes Adopts instruments (legislation) and guidelines at the intergovernmental level Member Governments are responsible for implementing and enforcing the adopted regulatory framework.

Instruments Conventions or Protocols Amendments to Conventions or Protocols Resolutions, Codes, Guidelines, Recommendations, etc. The phases from adoption to implementation and enforcement: Adoption, after discussion in IMO Entry into force internationally Implementation (by flag States) Enforcement (by port and coastal States)

IMO at work Assembly Council Committees Maritime Safety Marine Environment Protection Legal Technical Cooperation Facilitation

Key Committees Maritime Safety Committee Safety pre-eminent importance Navigation Marine Environment Protection Committee Focus pollution prevention and reposnse Biological concerns with aquatic nuisance species transferred through ballast water and biofouling Individual animal issues Ship strikes of right whales

Sub-Committees Bulk Liquid and Gases Carriage of Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers Fire Protection Flag State Implementation Safety of Navigation Ship Design and Equipment Stability, Load Lines and Fishing Vessel Safety Standards of Training and Watchkeeping

168 Member States, meets every 2 years ASSEMBLY 168 Member States, meets every 2 years COUNCIL 40 States, every 6 months TCC FAL MSC MEPC LEG SUB-COMMITTEES SLF STW FP DE COMSAR NAV DSC BLG FSI

Progress of measures at IMO - example Proposal to IMO Committee Incident Idea, development Discussion, refer to Sub-Committee, Working Group Development of draft Regulation, circular, Code or resolution Let me give you an idea of how measures progress through the IMO machinery. Any IMO Member State can propose a new regulation or amendment to existing one. It might arise from an incident, or simply from an idea or technical development. The Member State first puts its proposal to the relevant IMO Committee. The Committee would then discuss the proposal and, if it was considered to have merit, might decide to refer it to a sub-committee for more detailed consideration. For more complex issues, a working group or correspondence group might be established to work on the issue at an even more intense technical level. After appropriate discussion in these fora, a detailed draft – whether it for a new measure, an amendment to an existing measure, a code of practice, guidelines or a circular – is drawn up, ready for consideration and approval at the appropriate level. This explains the process in the simplest of terms. Depending on the complexity of the issue, some measures can be quickly agreed and adopted while others require more time. IMO member states undertake to put into practice the measures they develop and adopt at IMO. That is why the Organization always aims to adopt measures by consensus as this way ensures the widest possible implementation by the member states. Adoption of new regulation

Respective Roles IMO - Develop safety and environment standards Governments - Implement/Enforce the standards Classification Societies - Survey and Certification Shipping Companies - Apply the standards to their ships Shipboard Personnel - Putting standards into operation

Application to real ships Of course what really counts is the application of IMO measures aboard real ships, such as this bulk carrier, this general cargo vessel, this passenger ship or this tanker.

Application to real ships More than 50 IMO Conventions More than 100 protocols, guidelines, recommendations etc Almost every aspect of shipping covered: Design Construction Equipment Maintenance Crew Discharges/emissions Today there are more than 50 IMO treaty instruments and over 100 other measures such as protocols, guidelines, recommended practices and so on. Between them, they influence almost every aspect of shipping and ship operation, including ship design, construction, equipment, maintenance and manning.

Safety and security SOLAS (Safety of life at sea) STCW (Training/Watch keeping) Load lines (Cargo safety limits) COLREGS (Collision avoidance) SUA (Suppression of Unlawful Acts) ISPS Code (Port Security) Broadly speaking, the main IMO Conventions fall into four categories. Those dealing with safety and security include: the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) which is generally considered to be the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships. Among the topics covered in its chapters are ship construction, subdivision and stability, fire protection, life saving appliances and arrangements, radiocommunications, safety of navigation, carriage of cargoes and dangerous goods, safe management and maritime security; Others include the Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, the Load lines Convention, the Collision Regulations or COLREGS and the so-called SUA Conventions, which are legal instruments aimed at ensuring that appropriate action is taken against persons committing unlawful acts against ships such as the seizure of ships by force, acts of violence against persons on board ships and the placing of devices on board a ship which are likely to destroy or damage it.

Pollution prevention MARPOL 73/78 Intervention 69/73 London Dumping 72 and Protocol 96 Anti-fouling 2001 Ballast water management 2004 Wreck removal 2004 Ship Recycling 2009 Another set of Conventions are designed to prevent pollution of the marine environment. Prime among these is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, or MARPOL, which has six annexes, dealing with oil pollution, operational pollution, harmful substances in packaged form, sewage, garbage and air pollution. Others include Conventions on the dumping of wastes at sea, on the rights of coastal states to intervene if their coastline is under threat of pollution following upon a maritime casualty, on the use of certain toxic substances in ships’ anti-fouling paint and on ballast water management.

Search and rescue/pollution response and compensation SAR OPRC (oil) - OPRC-HNS Protocol Liability and Compensation – CLC; FUND; BUNKER; HNS Conv Broadly speaking, the measures we’ve covered so far are designed to prevent accidents from occurring; But we have to recognise that despite everyone’s best efforts, accidents do occur. So another series of Conventions have been developed that are designed to ensure a proper response to minimise the negative repercussions when accidents do happen. The most important consideration is the protection of human life, and to this end the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (the SAR Convention) enshrines an international SAR plan to ensure that, no matter where an accident occurs, rescue operations will be co-ordinated by a proper search and rescue organization and, when necessary, by co-operation between neighbouring SAR organizations. Other measures in this category include the OPRC Convention (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation) which establishes measures for dealing with pollution incidents, either nationally or in co-operation with other countries, and its related protocol dealing with hazardous and noxious substances.

Uptake across the world SOLAS 98.79% world tonnage COLREGS 98.50% STCW 98.77% MARPOL(I&II) 98.34% MARPOL(97 Prot) 74.73% OPRC 90 65.17% OPRC-HNS 17.83% AFSC 01 62.69% And we can see that, by adopting the consensus approach, the most important conventions covering maritime safety and the prevention of pollution are now applicable to almost 100 per cent of global tonnage.

Remember IMO instruments to protect the marine environment from shipping are: SOLAS, COLREGS (safety) MARPOL (operational/accidental discharges) Intervention Convention (threats to coast) Anti-fouling Systems Convention (toxic chemicals) Ballast Water Management Convention (invasive species) OPRC (& HNS) – (oil/chemical spill) and the London Convention/Protocol (dumping at sea of wastes) International instruments encouraging the designation of certain areas in order to increase the level of environmental protection

MARPOL 6 annexes cover ship-generated pollution (oil, NLS, Sewage, Garbage and air emissions) Ensures ships are adequately designed, equipped, certified and inspected Requires States to deal with wastes – reception facilities Applies to all ships (oil and gas exploration exempted) The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of Ships, 1973 was adopted that same year. This Convention was subsequently modified by the Protocol 1978, which was adopted in 1978. The Protocol introduced stricter regulations for the survey and certification of ships. It is to be read as one instrument and is usually referred to as MARPOL 73/78. This IMO Convention is the most important global treaty for the prevention of pollution from the operation of ships. It governs the design and equipment of ships, establishes a system of certificates and inspections and requires States to provide reception facilities for the disposal of oily waste and chemicals. It covers all technical aspects of pollution from ships, except the disposal of waste into the sea by dumping, and applies to ships of all types, although it does not apply to pollution arising out of the exploration and exploitation of sea-bed mineral resources. Regulations covering the various sources of ship-generated pollution are contained in six annexes that are updated regularly. All Annexes I (oil), II (chemicals in bulk), III (chemicals in packaged form), IV (sewage), V (garbage), VI (air emissions) are in force.

AFS – Convention (2001) AIM: to reduce or eliminate adverse effects on the marine environment and human health caused by anti-fouling systems Convention entered into force on 17 September 2008

Ballast Water Management Convention (2004) AIM: Prevent, minimize and ultimately eliminate the risks to the environment, ……. arising from the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens. ….through the control and management of ships’ ballast water and sediments, …. Convention is not yet in force

OPRC Convention and the OPRC-HNS Protocol Basic Obligations under OPRC and Regional Agreement: Establish and maintain a national response system Exchange of information Early notification/Reporting Mutual assistance

Protect the marine environment from all sources of pollution London Convention Promote the effective control of all sources of marine pollution Contracting Parties shall take effective measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment caused by dumping at sea. 1996 Protocol Protect the marine environment from all sources of pollution Contracting Parties shall take effective measures to prevent, reduce and where practicable eliminate marine pollution caused by dumping or incineration of wastes at sea.

Other International Agreements to protect marine environment: Land-based pollution Basel Convention 1989 Global Programme of Action 1995 Atmospheric pollution Kyoto Protocol 1992 Stockholm Convention 2001 These are only examples. The United Nations Environment Program lists over 500 agreements between or among nations that deal with environmental issues, out of 40,000+ total international agreements. Note for later: LTRAP: Long Range Transport of Atmospheric Pollutants. POP: Persistent Organic Pollutants. OSPAR: the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, 1992.

Interplay between international agreements Sea-based inputs Land-based inputs Atmospheric inputs UNFCCC- Kyoto UNCLOS Biodiversity GPA POP Basel IMO ICRI Regional agreements MARPOL,OPRC, BWM, AFSC, etc Healthy oceans

Summary IMO Is a specialized UN agency Develops global regulations to ensure that shipping is safe, secure, efficient and environmentally friendly With a global coverage for a truly global industry and the community as a whole

Thank you for your attention Any questions!