Resolution MEPC.68(38)

AMENDMENTS TO THE ANNEX OF THE PROTOCOL OF 1978 RELATING TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PREVENTION OF POLLUTION FROM SHIPS, 1973
 (Amendments to Protocol I)

(Adopted on 10 July 1996)

THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COMMITTEE,

RECALLING Article 38(a) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the function of the Committee conferred upon it by International conventions for the prevention and control of marine pollution,

NOTING article 16 of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the "1973 Convention") and article VI of the Protocol of 1978 relating to the 1973 Convention (hereinafter referred to as the "1978 Protocol") which together specify the amendment procedure of the 1978 Protocol and confers upon the appropriate body of the Organization the function of considering and adopting amendments to the 1973 Convention, as modified by the 1978 Protocol (MARPOL 73/78),

NOTING ALSO that there is a need for more precise requirements with regard to when to make reports in article II of Protocol I, Provisions concerning Reports of Incidents Involving Harmful Substances, of the 1973 Convention,

HAVING CONSIDERED the amendments to article II of Protocol I of the 1973 Convention, agreed at its thirty-seventh session and circulated in accordance with article 16(2)(a) of the 1973 Convention,

1. ADOPTS, in accordance with article 16(2)(b) of the 1973 Convention, amendments to Protocol I of MARPOL 73/78, the text of which is set out at annex to the present resolution;

2. DETERMINES, in accordance with article 16(2)(f)(iii) of the 1973 Convention, that the amendments shall be deemed to have been accepted on 1 July 1997, unless prior to the date, not less than one-third of the Parties or the Parties, the combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less than fifty per cent of the gross tonnage of the world's merchant fleet, have communicated to