Regional Workshop on Ratification and Effective Implementation of MARPOL Annex VI, Valletta, 11-13 December 2018 – Dec 11, 2018

The Regional Workshop on Ratification and Effective Implementation of Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) will be held at REMPEC premises in Valletta, Malta from 11 to 13 December 2018.

The Meeting is being organised by REMPEC pursuant to the Programme of Work and Budget for 2018-2019 of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), also referred to as UN Environment/MAP, adopted by the Twentieth Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (“the Barcelona Convention”) and its Protocols, which was convened in Tirana, Albania from 17 to 20 December 2017. It is financed by the Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as well as the Mediterranean Trust Fund (MTF) and a voluntary contribution from the Government of France.

The principal objectives of the Meeting will be: 

(a) to raise awareness on MARPOL Annex VI as well as to provide for a greater understanding and appreciation of the requirements for implementation and enforcement of the said annex, in order to be able to lead Governments’ efforts towards ratification and more effective implementation, compliance and enforcement, both as a flag State and as a port State, over the first two days of the Meeting; and 

(b) to discuss the draft technical and feasibility study to examine the possibility of designating the Mediterranean Sea or parts thereof, as sulphur oxides (SOx) emission control area(s) (ECA(s)) under MARPOL Annex VI, prepared by REMPEC, a copy of which was submitted to the SOx ECA(s) Technical Committee of Experts established pursuant to Specific Objective 15 of the Regional Strategy (2016-2021) on 1 October 2018, for its consideration, over the last day of the Meeting. The working languages of the Meeting will be English and French. Simultaneous interpretation services will be provided during the Meeting.

All documents of the event as well as the report are available on REMPEC’s event page.

For more information on IMO’s activities related to the prevention of air pollution from ships, please visit this webpage.