The Department of State will conduct an open public meeting Jan. 23, 2020, led by the Coast Guard, to prepare for the seventh session of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR 7) to be held at the IMO Headquarters, United Kingdom in February. 

Public meeting details:

• Date: Thursday, January 23, 2020
• Time: 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time
• Location: Room 6I10-01-C, Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building at St. Elizabeth’s, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, Washington, DC, 20593

Members of the public may register to attend this meeting up to the seating capacity of the room. Upon request to the meeting coordinator, members of the public may also participate via teleconference, up to the capacity of the teleconference phone line. 

To facilitate the building security process, and to request reasonable accommodation, those who plan to attend should contact the meeting coordinator, Ms. Melissa Perera, not later than Jan. 21, 2020, two business days prior to the meeting. Requests made after January 21 might not be able to be accommodated.

• Email: Melissa.E.Perera@uscg.mil
• Phone: (202) 372-1446
• In writing: COMDT (CG-OES-3), ATTN: Ms. Melissa Perera, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. S.E. Stop 7509, Washington D.C. 20593-7509

Please note that due to security considerations, two valid, government-issued photo identifications must be presented to gain entrance to the Coast Guard Headquarters building. The building is accessible by taxi, public transportation, and privately owned conveyance (upon request). 

The agenda items to be considered include:

• Decisions of other IMO bodies
• Safety and pollution hazards of chemicals and preparation of consequential amendments to the IBC Code
• Revised guidance on ballast water sampling and analysis
• Revised guidance on methodologies that may be used for enumerating viable organisms
• Amendment of Annex 1 to the AFS Convention to include controls on cybutryne, and consequential revision of relevant guidelines
• Review of the 2011 Guidelines for the control and management of ships’ biofouling to minimize the transfer of invasive aquatic species (resolution MEPC.207(62))
• Reduction of the impact on the Arctic of Black Carbon emissions from international shipping
• Development of guidelines for onboard sampling of fuel oil not in use by the ship 
• Standards for shipboard gasification of waste systems and associated amendments to regulation 16 of MARPOL Annex VI
• Review of the 2015 Guidelines for exhaust gas cleaning systems (resolution MEPC.259(68))
• Evaluation and harmonization of rules and guidance on the discharge of liquid effluents from EGCS into waters, including conditions and areas
• Development of amendments to MARPOL Annex VI and the NOx Technical Code on the use of multiple engine operational profiles for a marine diesel engine
• Development of measures to reduce risks of use and carriage of heavy fuel oil as fuel by ships in Arctic waters
• Review of the IBTS Guidelines and amendments to the IOPP Certificate and Oil Record Book
• Revision of MARPOL Annex IV and associated guidelines to introduce provisions for record-keeping and measures to confirm the lifetime performance of sewage treatment plants 
• Follow-up work emanating from the Action Plan to address marine plastic litter from ship 
• Unified interpretation to provisions of IMO environment-related conventions
• Biennial agenda and provisional agenda for PPR 8
• Election of Chair and Vice-Chair for 2021
• Any other business
• Report to the Marine Environment Protection Committee

For more information on this, or any other International Maritime Organization meeting, visit the Coast Guard’s IMO Homepage.

View the Federal Register Notice for additional meeting registration instructions and full details on the agenda.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.