RECALLING article 38(a) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Marine Environment
Protection Committee (the Committee) conferred upon it by international
conventions for the prevention and control of marine pollution,
RECALLING ALSO resolution MEPC.19(22) by which the Committee
adopted the International Code for the Construction and Equipment
of Ships Carrying Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk (IBC
Code),
NOTING article 16 of
the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from
Ships, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the "1973 Convention") and article VI of the Protocol of 1978
relating to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution
from Ships, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the "1978 Protocol")
which together specify the amendment procedure of the 1978 Protocol
and confer upon the appropriate body of the Organization the function
of considering and adopting amendments to the 1973 Convention, as
modified by the 1978 Protocol (MARPOL 73/78),
NOTING ALSO that the Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-eighth
session, considered and approved the proposed amendments to the IBC Code with a view to adoption under the provisions
of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974
(1974 SOLAS Convention),
HAVING CONSIDERED the proposed amendments to the IBC Code,
2. DETERMINES, in accordance with article 16(2)(f)(iii) of the 1973 Convention,
that the amendments to the IBC Code shall be
deemed to have been accepted on 1 July 2006 unless, prior to that
date, not less than one-third of the Parties or Parties, the combined
merchant fleets of which constitute not less than 50 per cent of the
gross tonnage of the world's merchant fleet, have communicated to
the Organization their objection to the amendments;
3. INVITES the Parties to note that, in accordance
with article 16(2)(g)(ii) of
the 1973 Convention, the amendments to the IBC Code shall
enter into force on 1 January 2007 upon their acceptance in accordance
with paragraph 2 above;
4. REQUESTS the Secretary-General, in conformity
with article 16(2)(e) of the
1973 Convention, to transmit to all Parties to MARPOL
73/78 certified copies of the present resolution and the text
of the amendments to the IBC Code contained
in the annex;
5. REQUESTS FURTHER the Secretary-General to transmit
copies of the present resolution and its annex to the Members of the Organization which are not Parties to MARPOL 73/78; and