Ship pollution rules to apply in 2005

Ship pollution rules to apply in 2005    International Maritime Organization regulations on the prevention of air pollution from ships will enter into force May 19, 2005, after the recent ratification of an international agreement by the government of Samoa met the required quota for its implementation.
   Under IMO rules, the 1997 protocol concerning the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) of 1973 enters into force 12 months after being accepted by 15 states with not less than 50 percent of world merchant shipping tonnage. Samoa was the 15th state to ratify the agreement, bringing the percentage of world shipping tonnage to 54.57 percent.
   However, the air pollution protocol will be binding only on those countries that have ratified it. The United States has not yet ratified the agreement.
   Annex VI of the agreement sets limits on sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from ship exhausts and prohibits deliberate emissions of ozone-depleting substances.
   “With the entry into force of Annex VI, the full set of MARPOL international regulations for the prevention of pollution by ships will be in force,” said Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, secretary-general of the IMO. “We must now ensure their effective implementation and enforcement.”
   The IMO official also urged governments to ratify other IMO pollution-prevention instruments, particularly the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships of 2001 and the recently adopted International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments.