INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION (IMO)
PROVISIONAL CATEGORIZATION OF LIQUID SUBSTANCES

MEPC.2/Circ. 13; 17 December 2007

1 Introduction

1.1 Whilst under normal circumstances chapters 17 and 18 of the IBC Code take precedence over List 1 of the MEPC.2/Circular, in this exceptional case the entries in Annex 1 – List 1: Pure and technically pure products, which apply to “all countries” and with no expiry date, supersede those in the IBC Code.

1.2 This circular is issued in accordance with regulation 6.3 of MARPOL Annex II, replacing all previously issued circulars under this title.

2 Lists of annexes

2.1 Annexes 1 to 4 provide lists of noxious liquid substances (NLS) with associated categories and minimum carriage requirements which have been established through Tripartite Agreements and registered with the Secretariat in accordance with the regulation referred to above. Annexes 5 to 8 are intended to facilitate the reporting of Tripartite Agreements and the interpretation of abbreviations used in annexes 1 to 4.

annex 1: List 1: Pure or technically pure products;

annex 2: List 2: Pollutant only mixtures containing at least 99 by weight of components already assessed by IMO;

annex 3: List 3: (Trade-named) mixtures containing at least 99% by weight of components already assessed by IMO, presenting safety hazards;

annex 4: List 4: Pollutant only mixtures containing one or more components, forming more than 1% by weight of the mixture, which have not yet been assessed by IMO;

annex 5: List 5: Substances not shipped in pure form but as components in mixtures;

annex 6: Synonyms for vegetable oils;

annex 10: Cleaning additives.

3 Observations related to the annexes

3.1 Language

3.1.1  As seen in the lists, most products are trade-named substances under n.o.s. entries. Since tradenames are not translated, the products are entered as notified and the lists are issued in English only.

3.2 Shading

3.2.1 Amendments to the Product Lists (annexes 1 to 5) are identified by shading the field in which the change has been made.

3.3 Country and Territory Codes (Annex 7)

3.3.1 The list of country and territory abbreviations mirrors that used in the Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS), which is based on the UN/Locode, a geographic code scheme, developed and maintained by the UNECE, a Unit of the United Nations. These codes are listed in Annex 7: Part 1 of the Annex presents entries by Code order whilst Part 2 gives a listing by Country/Territory order.

3.4 Cleaning additives (Annex 10)

3.4.1 The Marine Environment Protection Committee, at its fifty-second session, adopted the revised MARPOL Annex II for the regulation for the discharge of Noxious Liquid Substances, which includes restrictions on the types of cleaning additives allowed to be used in tank washing operations as follows:

“13.5.2 When small amounts of cleaning additives (detergent products) are added to water in order to facilitate tank washing, no additives containing pollution category X components shall be used except those components that are readily biodegradable and present in a total concentration of less than 10%. No restrictions additional to those applicable to the tank due to the previous cargo should apply.”

3.4.2 All cleaning additives evaluated by the BLG Working Group on the Evaluation of Safety and Pollution Hazards of Chemicals (ESPH) and found to meet the requirements of paragraph 13.5.2 of the revised MARPOL Annex II are consolidated into annex 10 of the MEPC.2/Circular.

3.4.3 In line with the decision taken by the Marine Environment Protection Committee at its fiftysixth session, cleaning additives in Annex 10 submitted before 1 January 2007, which were evaluated through MEPC/Circ.363, will cease to be valid on 1 August 2010. To maintain a listing beyond this date, a re-evaluation of the cleaning additives concerned, in accordance with the revised guidelines given in MEPC.1/Circ.590, is required.

3.4.4 To reflect the different classes of entry which will be possible until 2010, products are now recorded as having been assessed by either MEPC/Circ.363 and/or MEPC.1/Circ.590 accordingly.

3.4.5 Additionally, in order to facilitate any future liaison with additive producers that may be required, a record of the Administrations having submitted the cleaning additives on behalf of the manufacturers is now included for all new product entries to Annex 10.

4 Notification of new entries

4.1 Guidelines for the provisional assessment of liquids transported in bulk are set out in MEPC.1/Circ.512. When notifying the Secretariat of any provisional assessment made under Tripartite Agreement, Administrations are requested to:

.1  specify whether in Lists 1, 2, 3 or 4; and

.2  provide all relevant data to be included in the circular.

4.2 As the majority of products notified are classified by the calculation method and are candidates for List 2, it is particularly important to provide the information to IMO in a format that will facilitate efficient and accurate transfer to the database used to generate the various lists included in this circular.

4.3 For hard copies with candidates for List 2, the preferred method is to notify one product per page in the following format:

Note: Incomplete data on a substance will result in the entry for its provisional assessment being delayed while the application is returned to the originator.

4.4 For products being notified as candidates for Lists 1, 3 or 4, the format shown in appendix 3 of the annex to MEPC.1/Circ.512 is preferred.

4.5 While stressing the importance of correct data being supplied to the Secretariat, it should be noted in particular that, when proposing a product for Lists 2 and 4, the component responsible for the greatest pollution potential should be specified following the word “Contains” in the Shipping Name. Such component is that with the highest value obtained from % x component factor. In the event of there being more than one component with equal highest scores, discretion may be used in deciding whether one or both should be identified (see MEPC.1/Circ.512). The name of the component should be one of those appearing in chapters 17 or 18 of the IBC Code or those in Lists 1
or 5 of this circular.

4.6 It should also be pointed out that any cargo offered for bulk shipment shall be indicated in the shipping document by the product name under which it is listed in chapter 17 or 18 of the IBC Code or the latest edition of the MEPC.2/Circular or under which it has been provisionally assessed. In this respect, special attention should be given to BLG.1/Circ.17 regarding the use of the proper shipping name in offering bulk liquid cargoes for shipment.

4.7  When shipping a pollution hazard only mixture, the appropriate n.o.s. entry in the IBC Code, together with the tradename and “product contains” information, would form the proper shipping name. For example, if the trade name is IMO 1234 and it contains “Calcium long-chain alkyl salicylate (C13+)” as the component with the greatest pollution potential, then the correct product name could be:

Noxious liquid, N.F., (5) n.o.s. (IMO 1234 contains Calcium long-chain alkyl salicylate (C13+)) S.T. 2, Cat. Y

4.8  The Master of a type 2 ship certified to carry n.o.s. (5) products would then know that he can accept the cargo without concern as to fire, toxicity and other safety hazards and that, in the event of an accidental spill, he could report the name of the substance responsible for the pollution to the coastal State authorities.

5 Tripartite contact addresses

5.1 In accordance with the MEPC resolution on Tripartite Agreements, resolution MEPC.109(49), Administrations are requested to note that contact points which have not informed the Organization of their latest contact details should be deemed to have accepted the Tripartite Agreements whilst other contact points should still follow regulation 6.3 of MARPOL Annex II.

5.2 It would, therefore, be appreciated if Administrations could verify that information included in annex 8 of this circular is correct and supply any useful additional information, for example, e-mail addresses. As the Secretariat has only been supplied with the addresses listed, those Administrations which have not supplied any focal point address are requested to do so. In this respect, it should be noted that in future the tripartite agreement contact points will also be available through the GISIS database.