International Convention for the Control and Management of  Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (“BWM Convention”) (No.2) 17 February 2017 No.16-020 Download PDF (204KB) Members are referred to our previous circular No.16-019 dated 16 January 2017.   The International Maritime Organization’s BWM Convention comes into force on 8 September 2017. The aim of the BWM Convention is to halt the spread of invasive marine species through ships’ ballast water. The BWM Convention accordingly places obligations upon and provides guidance to contracting states and the ships over which they have authority.  This circular draws Members’ attention to the outlines of main provisions of the BWM Convention.       1.   GENERAL PROVISIONS           Preliminary Matters 1.1. Contracting states are required to give “full and complete effect” to the BWM Convention and its Annex in order to “prevent, minimize and ultimately eliminate the transfer of Harmful Aquatic Organisms and Pathogens through the control and management of ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments” (Article 2.1). 1.2. Contracting states may enact measures more stringent than those of the BWM Convention, so long as they are consistent with international law (Article 2.3).  1.3. No measure taken by a contracting state pursuant to the BWM Convention may damage the environment, human health, property, or resources of either the contracting state in question or of other contracting states (Articles 2.6 - 2.7).           Scope and Application 1.4. The Convention applies to: a) ships entitled to fly the flag of a contracting state; and b) ships not entitled to do so, but which operate under the authority of a contracting state. 1.5. The BWM Convention’s survey and certification requirements (see section 3 below) will not be imposed on ships built before 8 September 2017 until the first renewal survey associated with the individual ship’s IOPP