Transposing the provisions of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) into national legislation, to meet current and future obligations, was the focus of an in-person workshop in Mombasa, Kenya (15-18 May).
Through drafting exercises, presentations, the review of Kenya draft regulations implementing Annexes I to VI of MARPOL and of MARPOL Annexes in parallel, and group discussions, 13 legal drafters and technical experts from Kenya Maritime Authority were guided on the mechanisms that should be applied when developing and updating national legislation to ensure effective implementation of MARPOL in national legislation. Participants included graduates from the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) and the World Maritime University (WMU).
Key outcomes include: guidance and advice provided on the specific drafting of the relevant implementing texts for Annexes I to VI of MARPOL and assistance to Kenya in developing an action plan on the next steps for the finalization of the draft national legislation. This activity complements the support provided to Kenya under the IMO Norway Green Voyage 2050 Project, in particular, on the regulatory developments related to MARPOL Annex VI, the Initial IMO GHG Strategy, as well as training on key low carbon technologies and fuels.
The workshop was co-organized by the Kenya Maritime Authority and IMO, and funded through the Organization's Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP). It is envisaged that this type of legal drafting assistance could be scaled up and replicated in other countries, to support corrective action identified from an audit under the IMO Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS).
The 2023 World Maritime theme is 'MARPOL at 50 – Our commitment goes on'.