As already advised in ClassNK Technical Information No.TEC-0687 dated 14 December 2006, fuel oils used onboard ships are regulated by the European Union in its member states' territorial seas separately from IMO MARPOL 73/78 ANNEX VI.

Technical Information No.TEC-0678 provided a summary of the fuel oil control according to Directive 2005/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (amending Directive 1999/32/EC). This information provides a summary of a requirement change effective from 1 January 2008 for a Marine Gas Oil (hereinafter referred to as "MGO") control which originally took effect in July 2000, according to 1999/32/EC.

- Original requirement: Applicable from July 2000 to 31 December 2007.
Use of MGO with more than 0.2% sulphur content shall be prohibited within the member states' territories.
- Requirement after the change: Applicable from 1 January 2008
Use of MGO with more than 0.1% sulphur content shall be prohibited within the member states' territories.

Here, the term "MGO" is defined as "fuels intended for marine use which have a viscosity or density falling within the ranges of viscosity or density defined for marine distillates in Table I of ISO 8217 (1996)", in 1999/32/EC. However, the revised definition of the term is specified in 2005/33/EC as "any marine fuel which has a viscosity or density falling within the ranges of viscosity or density defined for DMX and DMA grades in Table I of ISO 8217." Accordingly, please note that the fuel oil control will be implemented using the latter definition of MGO in the territories of member states that have already legislated the requirements of 2005/33/EC in their domestic laws.

For any questions about the above, please contact:

NIPPON KAIJI KYOKAI (ClassNK)
Machinery Department, Administration Center, Head Office
Address: 4-7 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8567, Japan
Tel.: +81-3-5226-2022 / 2023
Fax: +81-3-5226-2024
E-mail: mcd@classnk.or.jp