The Deputy Ministry of Shipping of the Republic of Cyprus has recently issued the Circular No. 16/2018 by which it announced that the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (Ballast Water Management Convention) will enter into force for Cyprus on 8 November 2018 pursuant to Article 18(3) of the Convention. The Convention was ratified by virtue of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (Ratification) and for Matters Connected Therewith Law of 2018 (BWM Ratification Law 5(III)/2018) and took effect on its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus No. 4244, on May 4 2018.
As soon as the Convention is entered into force the Republic of Cyprus will authorize Recognised Organisations to directly replace any Statements of Compliance with International Ballast Water Management Certificates, with an expiry date no later than the one on the existing Statement of Compliance. The Certificates will be issued without a survey provided that both the survey requirements and the circumstances on which they were applied on for the issuance of Statements of Compliance remained the same.
The Ratification law’s provisions and the Convention’s requirements shall be applied to both ships under the Cyprus flag and foreign ships of a State which has not yet acceded to the Convention in order to ensure parity of treatment amongst the ships that call ports of the Republic or otherwise, sail within the territorial sea or the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cyprus (Article 3(2) of the Convention).
For further information, please contact us at shipping@anastalaw.com
