Following the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the IMO initiated negotiations to consider the possibilities of developing an internationally binding instrument to address the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens in ships’ ballast water. From 1999 onwards, the Ballast Water Working Group, established by the MEPC in 1994, focused on the preparation of a free-standing Convention on control and management of ships’ ballast water and sediments.
The introduction of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens to new environments had been identified as one of the four greatest threats to the world’s oceans (the other three being land-sourced marine pollution, overexploitation of living marine resources and destruction of habitat) and in 2002 the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg called for action at all levels to accelerate the development of measures to address invasive aquatic species in ballast water.
Proper control and management of ships’ ballast water became a major environmental challenge for IMO and the global shipping industry. At its eighty-ninth session in November 2002, the Council approved the convening of the Diplomatic Conference in early 2004. The decision of the Council was endorsed by the twenty-third session of the Assembly in December 2003 and the International Conference on Ballast Water Management for Ships was held at IMO’s Headquarters in London from 9 to 13 February 2004. The Conference adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (the Ballast Water Management Convention), together with four conference resolutions. For a summary of the content of this instrument please click here.
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Amendments to the Convention
At its seventy-second session in April 2018, MEPC adopted amendments to the Convention, which entered into force in October 2019. The amendments were:
MEPC 72 also adopted the BWMS Code (resolution MEPC.300(72)), which superseded the 2016 Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems (G8) from October 2019.
In addition, at its seventy-fifth session in November 2020, MEPC adopted, through resolution MEPC.325(75), further amendments to the Convention, which entered into force in June 2022. The amendments were:
Finally, at its eightieth and eighty-first sessions in July 2023 and March 2024, MEPC adopted, through resolutions MEPC.369(80) and MEPC.383(81), further amendments to the Convention, which are expected to enter into force in February and October 2025, respectively. These amendments were to appendix II of the BWM Convention, concerning the form of the Ballast Water Record Book, and to regulations A-1 and B-2 of the BWM Convention , concerning the use of electronic record books .
Further amendments to the BWM Convention may occur now that the Convention is in force, including a possible comprehensive set of amendments after the ballast water experience‑building phase (EBP) (resolution MEPC.290(71)). Taking into consideration that challenges may arise during the implementation of any new convention that were not foreseen at the time of its adoption, the EBP was established by MEPC at its seventy-first session in July 2017 as a means for carrying out a systematic and evidence-based review of the BWM Convention. Having received the data analysis report of the EBP at its seventy-eighth session in June 2022, the MEPC has initiated the convention review stage of the EBP, and, at its eightieth session in July 2023, approved the associated Convention Review Plan, in line with which a package of amendments to the Convention and its supporting instruments may be approved and adopted in 2026. The list of provisions of the Convention and its associated instruments to be amended, revised and/or developed was endorsed by the MEPC at its eighty-first session in March 2024, and the relevant work is currently ongoing based on this list.
Several articles and regulations of the Ballast Water Management Convention refer to guidelines to be developed by the Organization, and Conference resolution 1 invited IMO to develop these guidelines as a matter of urgency and adopt them as soon as practicable, and in any case before the entry into force of the Convention, with a view to facilitating global and uniform implementation of the instrument.
In a commendable effort to facilitate the process, the IMO Member States have developed 14 sets of Guidelines from July 2005 to October 2008, some of which have since been further revised. This outstanding and probably unique output in the working history of MEPC would have not been possible without the dedication of the Ballast Water Review Group (BWRG) and the technical support of the then BLG, FSI and DE Sub-Committees.
It should be noted that, due to the complexity and multi-disciplinary nature of the problem posed by invasive aquatic species in ships' ballast water, knowledge is still gathering in this respect, as also evidenced by the EBP. The Guidelines are therefore kept under review by the MEPC and updated as new technologies emerge and additional knowledge becomes available.
The following is the up-to-date list of Guidelines relating to the uniform implementation of the BWM Convention that have been developed, adopted and, in some cases, revised since MEPC 53:
The Guidelines and other relevant guidance documents can be found here. This includes, inter alia, the Procedure for approving other methods of ballast water management in accordance with regulation B-3.7 of the BWM Convention (resolution MEPC.206(62)), the guidance on Information reporting on type approved ballast water management systems (resolution MEPC.228(65)), the Guidelines for the use of electronic record books under the BWM Convention (resolution MEPC.372(80)) and the Interim guidance on the application of the BWM Convention to ships operating in challenging water quality conditions (resolution MEPC.387(81)); as well as several circulars.
