Norway Amends PSC Regulations To Comply With International CO2 Emission Standards
The Norwegian Maritime Authority has laid down amendments to the Regulations on environmental safety and the Regulations on port State control as a result of the entry into force of the Regulation (EU) No 2015/757 on monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport (MRV Regulation) in the EU. In addition to this, the Norwegian Maritime Authority has made amendments to the Regulations on port State control in order to implement a provision in Council Directive 97/70/EC on the establishment of a harmonised safety regime for fishing vessels of 24 meters in length and upwards.
Furthermore, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has by resolution MEPC.278(70), on amendments to MARPOL, adopted new global rules for the collection of ship fuel consumption data. This legislation has a clear resemblance to the EU MRV legislation, and the Norwegian Maritime Authority chose to send the implementation of the IMO resolution for consultation at the same time for the purpose of demonstrating similarities and differences. However, in line with common practice, the Norwegian Maritime Authority will wait to lay down the regulatory amendments implementing this IMO resolution until expiry of the objection deadline pursuant to the MARPOL Convention. The objection deadline date is 1 September 2017.
Review
The proposed regulatory amendments were circulated for review from 17 February to 15 May this year and in this connection, the Norwegian Maritime Authority received a few comments.
The MRV Regulation
DNV GL refers to a difference between the MRV Regulation and the IMO resolution. Whereas the MRV Regulation applies to ships above 5,000 gross tonnage, the IMO Resolution MEPC.278(70) applies to ships of 5,000 gross tonnage and upwards. In the consultation letter we wrote that both sets of rules apply to ships of 5000 gross tonnage and upwards, but as DNV GL correctly points out, ships of 5000 gross tonnage do not fall under the scope of the MRV legislation.
The Governor of Svalbard comments that it does not emerge clearly from the proposed amendments that ship calls in Svalbard are not covered by the scope of application of the MRV legislation. In the opinion of the Norwegian Maritime Authority, this follows the scope of application, but this will be covered in more detail in the description of the legislation.
Ecoxy, which is accredited by Norwegian Accreditation in accordance with the MRV legislation, has questioned the scope of the MRV legislation for ships in the offshore industry. The Norwegian Maritime Authority has also received inquiries from companies about the scope of application, and we will cover this in more detail in the description of the legislation.
The Norwegian Armed Forces have indicated that they consider it unacceptable to install measuring equipment on board and seem to want to use a simplified method for measuring greenhouse gas emissions based on reported annual fuel consumption. The Norwegian Maritime Authority specifies that the compliance with the MRV legislation, including the issue of a document of compliance (DOC) after the verification of surveillance plans and an emission report approved by an accredited inspector, presupposes that the company uses one of the monitoring methods set out in Regulation 2015/757 Annex I. That said, the Norwegian Armed Forces’ vessels are exempt from the scope of application of the MRV Regulation, and compliance with the rules will therefore be on a voluntary basis.
Implementation of Directive 97/70/EC
The Norwegian Coastal Administration refers to the inclusion of fishing vessels in the Regulations on port State control and points out that it may be questioned whether the amendments are to be understood in such a way that the reporting routines in chapter 3 now also include fishing vessels.
The Norwegian Maritime Authority specifies that with regard to fishing vessels, the purpose of the amendments is only to satisfy Article 7 of Directive 97/70/EC concerning the obligation to check that foreign fishing vessels are constructed and equipped in accordance with the Directive. It is an independent control obligation not part of the Paris MOU nor Directive 2009/18/EC on port State control, and it is not our intention to extend the reporting requirements in SafeSeaNet or to make the control of foreign fishing vessels part of the detailed, regulated control regime that applies to other ships engaged on international voyages. Accordingly, the Norwegian Maritime Authority has adjusted the scope of application in order to clarify this.
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Reference:Â sjofartsdir.no
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