HELSINKI COMMISSION

Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission


HELCOM RECOMMENDATION 26/1*

APPLICATION OF THE NO-SPECIAL-FEE SYSTEM
TO SHIP-GENERATED WASTES IN THE BALTIC SEA AREA

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* This Recommendation supersedes HELCOM Recommendation 19/8    

Adopted 2 March 2005
having regard to Article 20, Paragraph 1 b)
of the Helsinki Convention

THE COMMISSION,

RECALLING Article 8 of the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1992 (the Convention) which calls for development and application of uniform requirements for the provision of reception facilities,

RECALLING ALSO Article 9 of the Convention stipulating a need for special measures in relation to pleasure craft, which includes the establishment of adequate reception facilities for wastes from pleasure craft,

CONSCIOUS that the "no-special-fee" system constitutes a system with the dual purpose of encouraging ships to deliver waste ashore and to avoid undesirable waste streams between ports, thereby encouraging a sound sharing of the waste burden,

CONSCIOUS ALSO that the no-special-fee system constitutes one of the prerequisites for a substantial decrease in the number of operational and illegal discharges and thus for the prevention of pollution of the marine environment from ships,