The Marine Environment Protection
Committee,
RECALLING Article 38(a) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization
concerning the functions of the Marine Environment Protection Committee conferred
upon it by international conventions for the prevention and control of marine
pollution from ships,
RECOGNIZING the need to provide a mandatory framework for ships operating in polar
waters due to the additional demands for the protection of the marine environment,
which go beyond the existing requirements contained in the International Convention
for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of
1978 relating thereto as amended by the 1997 Protocol (MARPOL) and other relevant
binding IMO instruments,
NOTING resolution MEPC.265(68), by which it adopted, inter alia, amendments to MARPOL
Annexes I, II, IV and V to make use of the environment-related provisions of the
International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) mandatory,
NOTING ALSO that the Maritime Safety Committee, at its ninety-fourth session,
adopted, by resolution MSC.385(94), the Introduction, as it relates to safety, and
parts I-A and I-B of the Polar Code and, by resolution MSC.386(94), amendments to
the 1974 SOLAS Convention to make use of the safety-related provisions of the Polar
Code mandatory,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its sixty-eighth session, the draft International Code for
Ships Operating in Polar Waters,
.1 ADOPTS the environment-related provisions of the
Introduction, and the whole of parts II-A and II-B of the Polar Code, the text of
which is set out in the annex to the present resolution;
.2 AGREES that amendments to the Introduction of the
Polar Code that address both safety and environmental protection shall be adopted in
consultation with the Maritime Safety Committee;
.3 INVITES Parties to note that the Polar Code will take
effect on 1 January 2017 upon entry into force of the associated amendments to
MARPOL Annexes I, II, IV and V;
.4 INVITES ALSO Parties to consider the voluntary
application of the Polar Code, as far as practicable, to ships not covered by the
Polar Code and operating in polar waters;
.5 REQUESTS the Secretary-General, for the purposes of
article 16(2)(e) of MARPOL, to transmit certified copies of the present resolution
and the text of the Polar Code, contained in the annex, to all Parties to
MARPOL;
.6 REQUESTS ALSO the Secretary-General to transmit
copies of the present resolution and the text of the Polar Code contained in the
annex to Members of the Organization which are not Parties to MARPOL;
.7 REQUESTS FURTHER the Secretary-General to prepare a
consolidated certified text of the Polar Code.