The 2011 Edition of the Guidelines for the use of dispersants for combating oil pollution at sea in the Mediterranean region and the Mediterranean Oil Spill Waste Management Guidelines have been endorsed by the 10th Meeting of the Focal Points of REMPEC, Malta, 3-5 May 2011. – May 23, 2011

    The 2011 Edition of the Guidelines for the use of dispersants for combating oil pollution at sea in the Mediterranean region and the Mediterranean Oil Spill Waste Management Guidelines have been endorsed by the 10th Meeting of the Focal Points of REMPEC, Malta, 3-5 May 2011.

    The 2011 Edition of the Guidelines for the use of dispersants for combating oil pollution at sea in the Mediterranean region were revised, in the framework of the MTWG’s work programme 2010-2011, with the technical support of the Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (CEDRE). The International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) contributed in this regional effort by providing comments on the Guidelines in the framework of the Global Initiative.

    The Guidelines are divided into four independent parts addressing different issues. Each part has been developed with a specific objective and is aimed at different end-users. The first part provides a regional agreed guidance on the main elements that should be considered before deciding on the use of dispersants, the second part provides theoretical information on dispersants and their application, the third part is a template which can be followed and adapted by the authorities when developing/maintaining their national policy on the use of dispersant whilst the last part provides a set of operational technical sheets.

    The Mediterranean Oil Spill Waste Management Guidelines and the related Mediterranean Oil Spill Waste management Decision Support Tool aim at facilitating the establishment or revision of national waste management strategy for oily waste resulting from marine accidental pollution, at optimizing the oil spill waste stream at national level, and also at highlighting, where necessary, regulatory amendments. The Guidelines were developed, in the framework of the Mediterranean Technical Working Group’s (MTWG) work programme (2008-2009), by REMPEC with the technical support of CEDRE and OTRA SARL who significantly contributed to the draft of the Guidelines with the assistance the International Maritime Organization through its OPRC-HNS Technical Working Group and REMPEC Secretariats.

    Both Guidelines are currently available only in English whilst the French version will be disseminated in a later stage when their translation is completed. They have been integrated respectively as Section 2 (RIS/D/2) and Section 12 (RIS/D/12) in Part D (Operational guides and technical documents) of the Regional Information System (RIS) and can be downloaded from the Information Resources section of REMPEC’s website (www.rempec.org), under “Regional Guidelines/Manuals/Preparedness & Response”