3.1 Active Substances and Preparations may be
added to the ballast water or be generated on board ships by technology
within the ballast water management system using an Active Substance
to comply with the Convention.
3.2 Active Substances and Preparations accomplish
their intended purpose through action on harmful aquatic organisms
and pathogens in ships' ballast water and sediments. However, if the
ballast water is still toxic at the time of discharge into the environment,
the organisms in the receiving water may suffer unacceptable harm.
Both the Active Substance or Preparation as well as the ballast water
discharge should be subjected to toxicity testing in order to protect
the receiving environment or human health from toxic effects due to
the discharges. Toxicity testing is needed to determine if an Active
Substance or Preparation can be used and under which conditions the
potential of harming the receiving environment or human health is
acceptably low.
3.3 Any system which makes use of, or generates,
Active Substances, Relevant Chemicals or free radicals during the
treatment process to eliminate organisms in order to comply with the
Convention should be subject to this Procedure.
3.4 Ballast water management systems that make
use of Active Substances and Preparations must be safe in terms of
the ship, its equipment and the personnel to comply with the Convention.
3.5 The approval of Active Substances and Preparations
using viruses or fungi for use in ballast water management systems
is not addressed in this procedure. The approval of such substances
for ballast water management should require an additional consideration
by the Organization in compliance with regulation
D-3 of the Convention if the use of such substances is proposed.
3.6 Administrations should check the quality and
completeness of any Basic Approval or Final Approval submission, against
the latest version of the Methodology for information gathering and
the conduct work of the Technical Group agreed by the Organization,
prior to its submission to the MEPC.