Policy and Legal Framework and the Current Status of Ballast Water Management Requirements - Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management: Issues and Solutions - page 58

Policy and Legal Framework and the Current
Status of Ballast Water Management
Requirements

Stephan Gollasch , Matej David , Karina Keast , Naomi Parker ,
and Chris Wiley

Abstract There is a wealth of policy and management options addressing species
introductions including conventions, treaties, multilateral agreements and codes of
practices. Together these instruments support an internationally consistent manage-
ment of specifi c transport vectors, quarantine or other biosecurity measures. This
chapter lists selected global legal frameworks addressing species introductions.
Chronologically, the fi rst international instrument on unintentional introductions
may have been the International Health Regulations issued in 1969 by the World
Health Organization (WHO). These regulations were prepared to support public
health care operations and to ensure the prevention of the spread of epidemics
(e.g. plague, cholera). This chapter addresses legal frameworks addressing species
introductions with the focus on ballast water related policy and legal frameworks. It
gives an update on the current status of ballast water management requirements
world-wide. A number of countries have taken the approach to nationally imple-
ment ballast water management requirements. We describe that most of these
national requirements are based upon the IMO Ballast Water Exchange Standard,