According to the decisions taken at the sixty-eighth session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC68) held in May 2015, amendments to MARPOL Annex I were adopted to clarify the scope pf application of the requirements for sludge discharging piping and bilge-water piping specified in regulation 12 of the said Annex, and the amendments will enter into force on 1 January 2017.

A summary of the amended requirements is provided as below for your information.

1. Application
All new and existing ships of 400 gross tonnage and above are subject to the regulation.

2. Application date
Application date of the amended requirements is as follows:
(1) for ships the keel of which is laid or which is at a similar stage of construction on or after 1 January 2017, registration surveys during construction; or
(2) for ships the keel of which is laid or which is at a similar stage of construction before 1 January 2017, the first IOPP renewal survey carried out on or after 1 January 2017.

3. The outline of major amendments to the regulation
To ships the keel of which is laid or which is at a similar stage of construction on or after 31 December 1990, the below requirements　except underlined part of (2) have already been applied. However, in accordance with the amendments, all the requirements including the underlined part of (2) will be applied to all ships, including existing ships, from 1 January 2017.
(1) The sludge tank(s) may be fitted with drains, with manually operated self-closing valves and arrangements for subsequent visual monitoring of the settled water, that lead to an oily bilge water holding tank or bilge well, or an alternative arrangement, provided such arrangement does not connect directly to the bilge discharge piping system. (Refer to figure.1 in Atachment No.1)

(To be continued)