Lorraine Weller Dear Consultee, This consultation letter seeks views on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) policy proposals to regulate sewage and garbage from shipping as reflected in the draft Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution by Sewage and Garbage from Ships) Regulations 2008. This consultation package will be accessible on the MCA web-site at www.mcga.gov.uk in the Guidance and Regulations section. The measure addresses two discrete but related areas of pollution from ships which form two of the annexes to the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78). The Regulations address the implementation of the new Annex IV (prevention of pollution by sewage) into UK law and the implementation of the revisions to Annex V (prevention of pollution by garbage). These Annexes have been agreed internationally. In the interests of reducing the number of legislative proposals and limiting the burden of multiple sets of separate Regulations, consultations and guidance documents, the decision has been taken to implement the two Annexes by a single set of UK Regulations. Summary of the provisions (Draft
Statutory Instrument - Annex A) MARPOL Annex IV - Sewage The most significant requirement of Annex IV is that ships of 400 GT or above, or less than 400 GT but certified to carry more than 15 persons and engaged in international voyages, must now have one of three approved sewage systems installed. These are a sewage treatment plant, a sewage comminuting / macerating and disinfecting system or a holding tank for the retention of sewage, taking account of the operation of the ship and number of persons on board. Annex IV prohibits the discharge of sewage into the sea, except when the sewage has been treated in a type approved sewage treatment plant, when ships are discharging comminuted and disinfected sewage using an approved system, at a distance of more than 3 nautical miles from the nearest land, or sewage which is not comminuted or disinfected at a distance of more than 12 nautical miles from the nearest land. Existing ships will be required to comply with the provisions five years after the date of the entry into force of the new Annex IV (i.e. by 27 September 2008). The Regulations will not apply to any warship, naval auxiliary or any other ship owned and operated by the state on non-commercial service. However, as a matter of good practice these ships are recommended to comply. Governments are also required to ensure the provision of adequate reception facilities at ports and terminals for the reception of sewage. This is dealt with in the Merchant Shipping (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 2003, which are currently being amended and which will be consulted upon in due course. MARPOL Annex V - Garbage In relation to Annex V (garbage), the draft Regulations will apply to all UK ships regardless of location. These draft Regulations will replace the existing Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution by Garbage) Regulations 1998 (SI:1998/1377) in order to reflect subsequent amendments adopted internationally. The amended version of Annex V entered into force on 1 March 2002 and there have been additional amendments since this date. The amendments are minor but include the prohibition of disposing into the sea of incinerator ashes from plastic products as they may contain toxic or heavy metal residues, as well as some changes to the form of the garbage record book, a change to the co-ordinates of the baseline for the definition of ‘nearest land’ off the coast of Australia and the addition of Spanish as one of the prescribed languages for placards and entries in the garbage record book. Additional Documents Included in the consultation are guidance documents and supporting information relating to the proposed legislation – these form part of the substantive consultation and we would welcome comments upon them. In brief these documents are: Draft Merchant Shipping Notice (Annex B)
This document includes additional information of a technical nature related to the Statutory Instrument. It would be useful to have the views of consultees on whether the content of the draft Merchant Shipping Notice is appropriate. If you consider that amended, additional or different content would be helpful, please provide specific suggestions and details. In particular do you agree with the proposed discharge rates for sewage? Draft Impact Assessment (Annex C)
This provides an assessment of the costs and benefits of the policy proposals and considers the justification for regulation. Please could you carefully consider the content and costings in the Impact Assessment and inform us of any costs or benefits which we may have overlooked. Draft Marine Guidance Note (Annex D)
A draft guidance document has been produced providing additional information on the measures proposed and guidance on the UK interpretations. Do you have any general comments on the scope and content of the note or any specific areas you feel would benefit from more detail? Consultation List (Annex E)
Enclosed is a list of the consultees to whom the package has been sent. Specific Questions on the Policy Proposals In responding to the consultation it may be useful to consider in particular the following questions which have been raised during the development of the draft Regulations and consultation package: 1) The MCA wishes to ensure that all ships that engage in international voyages are compliant with the new sewage legislation. To this end the MCA would expect that any ship that could potentially engage in international voyages should have the necessary sewage equipment on board, and that it will be in full working order, at all times and in all locations, no matter whether they are on domestic or international voyages. If the owners of a ship consider that the ship will never engage in international voyages, they are recommended to send a declaration to the MCA stating this and keep this declaration onboard and available for inspection if so requested. Do you believe this is an appropriate way of ensuring that ships that need to comply with the Regulations do so? Are there any alternative methods that could be used? 2) Do you own or operate any ships that had sewage systems installed between 1983 and 1999? where the system has not had IMO type approval? If so, how many? This question only relates to ships which are UK ships or which operate in UK waters. 3) Is the sewage discharge rate described in Schedule 2 of the MSN reasonable / practicable? 4) Do you believe the proposed offences in regulation 42 are proportionate to the threat of pollution and the potential harm done by pollution from sewage or garbage? 5) Do you feel that there needs to be a specific provision in the Regulations to deal with undue delay of vessels? 6) Is the MCA’s assessment of potential costs and benefits of the Regulations realistic? Do you have any additional data regarding potential costs of the Regulations which you feel would be useful to the MCA? 7) Is the MCA’s assessment of the Regulations’ impact upon a) small firms and b) competition realistic? 8) Do you feel that the definition of “Offshore Terminal” fit for purpose? 9) Have we identified all of the relevant consultees? Are there any other organisations you feel that we should consult with? You are invited to comment on the draft Merchant Shipping (Prevention by Sewage and Garbage from Ships) Regulations the draft Merchant Shipping Notice, the draft Marine Guidance Note and the Impact Assessment. I would be grateful if you could let me have your comments by 27 May 2008 What Will Happen Next After the consultation period has ended time will be required for the analysis and presentation of the results. The consultation comments and MCA responses will then be published on the MCA website, in the ‘Closed Consultations’ section: Freedom of Information Act Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004). If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence. In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department. The Department will process your personal data in accordance with the DPA and in the majority of circumstances this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties. Consultation Criteria This consultation has been conducted in accordance with the six consultation criteria from the Government Code of Practice:
If
you have any comments regarding the conduct of this consultation or feel that it does not comply with
the Government Code of Practice please contact the Consultation Co-ordinator at consultation.coordinator@mcga.gov.uk.
We are continually trying to improve the way in which we conduct consultations and appreciate your views,
so we would also be grateful if you could complete and return the attached feedback questionnaire (Annex
F Yours sincerely, Annex A - Draft Statutory Instrument |
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