Policy and Legal Framework and the Current Status of Ballast Water Management Requirements - Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management: Issues and Solutions - page 75

• Contributions to the development of the Mediterranean Ballast Water Action
Plan under the Barcelona Convention/REMPEC/Globallast Partnerships and the
Oslo-Paris Commission (OSPAR) Ballast Water programme,
• Information and support to the European Commission and its Member states on
issues such as, type approval of BWMS, risk assessment for exemptions from
BWM requirements and sampling, to ensure consistency between regional
approaches in Europe and help Member states to ratify the BWM Convention, and
• Support IMO working groups and in 2011/2012 chairing the Correspondence
Group to fi nalize the BWM circular on ballast water sampling and analysis.
The key BWM output was the development of guidelines for ballast water sam-
pling for enforcement of BWM Convention standards, which is a key part of the
EMSA Ballast Water Action Programme. In addition EMSA developed educational
material and held training sessions on Flag state implementation of BWM and prac-
tical training sessions on PSC sampling for the BWM Convention were organized.
There is no common EU ballast water policy and no legally binding requirement
in place. However, the BWM Convention has been signed by European countries,
i.e. Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden as
well as by Norway (as per December 2013). Several EU countries have announced
that they are aiming to ratify the BWM Convention soon.
European countries have obligations in relation to alien species and are asked to
“strictly control the introduction of non-indigenous species” ( Bern Convention on
the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats , see above) and “eradi-
cate those alien species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species” ( UN
Convention on Biological Diversity , see above). Many European countries unilater-
ally developed invasive alien species strategies. However, a unifi ed European-wide
approach may be benefi cial over national measures. The European Commission has
recognised the urgent need to address non-indigenous species ( Towards an EU
Strategy on Invasive Species (EU Commission 2008 )) and works towards a policy
on the issue and further to establish an early warning system of newly found non-
indigenous species. In September 2013 the European Commission proposed new
legislation with the objective to prevent and manage the rapidly growing problem of
invasive species. This proposed regulation addresses prevention, early warning and
rapid response as well as management of established invasive alien species of con-
cern. The proposal encourages a shift towards a harmonized and more preventive
approach, increasing effi ciency and lowering damage costs and the cost of action
over time. The proposed regulation is now examined by the European Council and
the Parliament. It draws on the EU Resource Effi ciency Roadmap and the EU
Biodiversity Strategy for 2020 and refers to IMO's biofouling and ballast water
instruments: “Action should include voluntary measures, such as the actions pro-
posed by the International Maritime Organization's Guidelines for the Control and
Management of Ships ' Biofouling , and mandatory measures and should build on the
experience gained in the Union and in Member states in managing certain path-
ways, including measures established through the International Convention for the
Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments .” The proposed