Overview
REMPEC assists the Mediterranean coastal States in ratifying, transposing, implementing and enforcing international maritime conventions.
REMPEC carries out numerous activities, from technical activities such as workshops, training courses, experts' assessments, studies and proposals, to aiding the development of regional instruments and guidelines, as well as assisting the Mediterranean coastal States to implement in a coherent way relevant international maritime rules and regulations.
Most of the current activities derive from the provisions of the 2002 Prevention and Emergency Protocol, which aims to support the implementation of the Regional Strategy for Prevention of the Marine Pollution from ships (2016-2021), and which constitutes a 5-year roadmap for the implementation of the 2002 Prevention and Emergency Protocol. REMPEC activities are focused around four main topics.
Prevention
By introducing the Prevention of Marine Pollution from ships in its mandate, in 1993, Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention endorsed the extended REMPEC's role to address pollution from chemicals, other harmful substances, garbage, sewage, air pollution and emissions from ships as laid down in the MARPOL Convention. Since then, REMPEC has also assisted the Mediterranean coastal States in ratifying, transposing, implementing and enforcing other international maritime conventions addressing amongst other things the reinforcement of maritime administrations, prevention of illicit discharges from ships and prosecution of offenders, promotion of port reception facilities, control of pleasure craft activities, prevention and control of air emission from ships, designation of places of refuge, prevention of introduction of invasive species and ballast water management, promotion of anti-fouling systems used on ships, etc.
Preparedness and response
The existence of reliable national systems for preparedness and response is considered to be the single most important factor which determines the effectiveness and the success of response to marine pollution incidents. These national systems include administrative organisation, trained personnel, basic equipment and in particular contingency plans for combating marine pollution incidents.
REMPEC assists the Mediterranean coastal States during each of the phases of the development of their national systems. This type of assistance is one of the most important activities that REMPEC performs since its establishment in December 1976.
Developing and consolidating an effective national system for preparedness for and response to marine pollution incidents is a complex and continuous process. It involves setting up an organizational framework for dealing with marine pollution incidents, based on a political decision to do so, preparing a national contingency plan and relevant local contingency plans, training personnel designated to respond to pollution incidents, and acquiring the necessary pollution response equipment and products.
One of the main tasks of REMPEC, deriving from its mandate, has been defined as “assistance to the coastal States of the Mediterranean region, which in cases of emergency so request, in obtaining assistance of the other Parties to the Prevention and Emergency Protocol or, when the possibilities for assistance do not exist within the region, in obtaining assistance from outside the region”.
The assistance provided by REMPEC can take the form of remote support, on-site assistance and regional assistance. In this regard, the Centre put into place a 24/7 system which is reachable at any time. REMPEC also established a team of experts, assembled under the Mediterranean Assistance Unit (MAU), who can be mobilized on request by any Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention in case of an emergency.
Focal Points and Contracting Parties Meetings
In order to assist the Mediterranean coastal States (ratification, implementation and enforcement of international maritime conventions), the Meeting of Focal Points of REMPEC is organised on a biannual basis in accordance with Article 18 of the Prevention and Emergency Protocol.
