MEPC approves draft Polar Code

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has approved the environmental provisions in the draft International Code for Ships Operating
in Polar Waters (the Polar Code), together with associated draft amendments to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Following this approval, the MEPC will consider the Code and the draft amendments for adoption at its next session, in May 2015.

Once adopted, the Polar Code and MARPOL amendments could enter into force on January 1, 2017. The draft Polar Code covers the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training, search and rescue and environmental protection matters relevant to ships operating in waters surrounding the two poles.

The environmental provisions add additional requirements to those already contained in MARPOL, to be applied to ships operating in the polar waters. As the Antarctic area is already established as a Special Area under MARPOL Annexes I and V, with stringent restrictions on discharges, the Polar Code aims to replicate many of those provisions in the Arctic area. In May 2014, IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), approved the Introduction and part I (safety provisions) of the Polar Code, along with a draft new chapter XIV of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) on “Safety measures for ships operating in polar waters”.

The MSC will consider the adoption of the Polar Code and SOLAS amendments at its next session (MSC 94, November 17 to 21). Once adopted, it is expected that the SOLAS amendments making the Polar Code mandatory would enter into force on January 1, 2017.