HELSINKI COMMISSION

Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission

     
     
HELCOM RECOMMENDATION 22/3*

UNIFIED INTERPRETATIONS TO ENSURE A HARMONIZED AND EFFECTIVE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY FOR PORT RECEPTION FACILITIES
FOR SHIP-GENERATED WASTES AND ASSOCIATED ISSUES

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     * This Recommendation supplements HELCOM Recommendations 19/8, 19/9, 19/12, 21/2 and 22/1

     
Adopted on 21 March 2001
having regard to Article 20, Paragraph 1 (b)
of the Helsinki Convention

THE COMMISSION,

RECALLING the adoption, in 1996, by the Seventeenth Meeting of the Helsinki Commission of the Strategy for Port Reception Facilities for Ship-generated Wastes and Associated Issues (the Baltic Strategy) as the basic tool for substantial decrease of operational discharges and elimination of illegal discharges in the Baltic Sea area by all ships irrespective of their nationality,

RECALLING ALSO the adoption, in 1998, by the Nineteenth Meeting of the Helsinki Commission of several HELCOM Recommendations as a follow-up to the Baltic Strategy,

RECALLING FURTHER that despite the designation of the Baltic Sea area as a "special area" under, inter alia, Annex I of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto (MARPOL 73/78), the Contracting Parties annually observe between 500-700 illegal oil discharges when carrying out regular aerial surveillance activities within the Baltic Sea area,