Ozone-depleting substance installation ban dates and the record book obligation (MARPOL Annex VI Regulation 12)

Say an engineer tops up the refrigerant in a cold room on board. If that refrigerant is an ozone-depleting substance, two things are at stake at once: what has to be left on the ship as a result of the work, and whether that equipment could have been installed in the first place. MARPOL Annex VI Regulation 12 answers the two questions in different ways.

One side is a prohibition. Equipment containing certain substances cannot be installed on a ship after a set date. The other side is a record. Equipment that is not caught by the prohibition and stays on board pulls a list and a record book along with it.

This article follows Regulation 12 in the order of its paragraphs, separating what it blocks from what it makes the ship write down. The two axes come from different sentences, and they do not catch the same ships.

Permanently sealed equipment falls outside this regulation entirely

1 This regulation does not apply to permanently sealed equipment where there are no refrigerant charging connections or potentially removable components containing ozone-depleting substances.

The test for exclusion is structure, not substance. There must be no refrigerant charging connection, and no removable component containing ozone-depleting substances. Only equipment that satisfies both conditions leaves the scope of Regulation 12.

That single sentence filters out everything that follows. Where the regulation does not apply, there is nothing to enter on a list and nothing to write in a record book. Conversely, one charging connection is enough to bring the equipment back inside. Being chargeable means that filling and drawing off will happen.

What is prohibited is emission, and what escapes during maintenance is emission too

2 Subject to the provisions of regulation 3.1, any deliberate emissions of ozone-depleting substances shall be prohibited. Deliberate emissions include emissions occurring in the course of maintaining, servicing, repairing or disposing of systems or equipment, except that deliberate emissions do not include minimal releases associated with the recapture or recycling of an ozone-depleting substance. Emissions arising from leaks of an ozone-depleting substance, whether or not the leaks are deliberate, may be regulated by Parties.

The provision draws deliberate emissions widely. Emissions occurring while maintaining, servicing, repairing or disposing of equipment fall inside it. The question is not whether someone opened a valve on purpose. The question is what work the release came out of.

One thing drops out. Minimal releases that come with recapturing or recycling the substance are carved out. So drawing refrigerant into recovery equipment and venting it to the atmosphere sit in different places in the text.

Leaks are different again. Emissions arising from leaks, deliberate or not, are only said to be open to regulation by Parties. Rather than prohibiting them itself, the Convention hands the seat to national law. The record book, however, does not leave leaks alone. The entry list that follows takes deliberate and non-deliberate discharge side by side.

The ban on new installations splits into two dates depending on the substance

3.1 Installations that contain ozone-depleting substances, other than hydrochlorofluorocarbons, shall be prohibited: .1 on ships constructed on or after 19 May 2005; or .2 in the case of ships constructed before 19 May 2005 which have a contractual delivery date of the equipment to the ship on or after 19 May 2005 or, in the absence of a contractual delivery date, the actual delivery of the equipment to the ship on or after 19 May 2005.

HCFCs are carved out of that paragraph. The next paragraph takes them on their own.

3.2 Installations that contain hydrochlorofluorocarbons shall be prohibited: .1 on ships constructed on or after 1 January 2020; or .2 in the case of ships constructed before 1 January 2020 which have a contractual delivery date of the equipment to the ship on or after 1 January 2020 or, in the absence of a contractual delivery date, the actual delivery of the equipment to the ship on or after 1 January 2020.

The two paragraphs have the same sentence structure and differ only in the date.

Substance in the equipment	Ships where installation is prohibited	Condition attached to earlier ships
Ozone-depleting substances other than HCFCs	Constructed on or after 19 May 2005	Contractual delivery date of the equipment on or after 19 May 2005. Where there is no contractual delivery date, the actual delivery
HCFCs	Constructed on or after 1 January 2020	Contractual delivery date of the equipment on or after 1 January 2020. Where there is no contractual delivery date, the actual delivery

The right-hand column is why the build date alone will not settle it. A ship built before the date is still caught if the equipment came aboard afterwards. The prohibition attaches to the equipment, not to the ship. And a second test, the actual delivery, is written in for the case where no contract date exists.

Read the other way, equipment that came aboard before the date stays. Regulation 12 does not require anyone to strip out what is already fitted. It does fix where the equipment goes when it is taken out.

4 The substances referred to in this regulation, and equipment containing such substances, shall be delivered to appropriate reception facilities when removed from ships.

Not only the substance but the equipment containing it goes to reception facilities. And that delivery becomes a reason to write in the record book further down.

Every covered ship keeps the list, only ships with rechargeable systems keep the record book

5 Each ship subject to regulation 6.1 shall maintain a list of equipment containing ozone-depleting substances.

6 Each ship subject to regulation 6.1 that has rechargeable systems that contain ozone-depleting substances shall maintain an ozone-depleting substances record book. This record book may form part of an existing logbook or electronic record book as approved by the Administration. An electronic recording system referred to in regulation 12.6, as adopted by resolution MEPC.176(58), shall be considered an electronic record book, provided the electronic recording system is approved by the Administration on or before the first IAPP Certificate renewal survey carried out on or after 1 October 2020, but not later than 1 October 2025, taking into account the guidelines developed by the Organization.

Both paragraphs open the same way: a ship subject to Regulation 6.1. They then part company. Every such ship keeps the list. The record book carries one more condition. The ship has to have rechargeable systems containing ozone-depleting substances.

So ships fall into three groups.

• A ship whose equipment is all permanently sealed: outside the regulation by Regulation 12.1. No list, no record book.
• A ship with equipment that has removable components but cannot be charged: it keeps the list and no record book.
• A ship with equipment that can be charged: it keeps both the list and the record book.

The form of the record book is left open. It may sit inside a logbook already in use, or it may be an electronic record book approved by the Administration. Regulation 12.6 does put a condition on the timing of that approval. For the electronic recording system adopted by resolution MEPC.176(58) to count as an electronic record book, the Administration has to approve it. That approval has to come before the first IAPP Certificate renewal survey carried out on or after 1 October 2020, and it cannot run past 1 October 2025.

Entries go in by the kilogram, without delay, on each of five occasions

7 Entries in the ozone-depleting substances record book shall be recorded in terms of mass (kg) of substance and shall be completed without delay on each occasion, in respect of the following:

The unit of entry is mass. Not the number of cylinders and not the number of jobs, but kilograms. The timing is fixed as well. It is without delay on each occasion, so the entry is made when the event happens. Writing the voyage up in one sitting at the end is closed off by the text.

There are five occasions.

• Recharge of equipment containing ozone-depleting substances, whether full or partial
• Repair or maintenance of that equipment
• Discharge to the atmosphere, recorded as deliberate and non-deliberate separately
• Discharge to land-based reception facilities
• Supply of ozone-depleting substances to the ship

Set the five out and what the record book is tracking becomes visible. The substance comes aboard, goes into equipment, moves while the equipment is open, and leaves again. Recording the same substance in the same unit lets the amount that came in be set against the amount that went out. That is why the kilogram is nailed down.

Splitting atmospheric discharge into deliberate and non-deliberate reads from the same place. Regulation 12.2 prohibits only deliberate emissions, but the record book takes both. The reach of the prohibition and the reach of the record are not the same.

Worth confirming

The passages above come from printed pages 20 to 22 of the revised Annex VI adopted by resolution MEPC.328(76). Regulation 12 is mandatory, but there are places this text alone does not settle.

The first is the scope of Regulation 6.1. It decides which ships keep the list and the record book, and that provision sits outside this extract. The second is emission from leaks. Regulation 12.2 hands it to the Parties, so flag State and port State law is what has to be read. The third is approval of an electronic record book. What counts as an approved electronic record book is for the Administration to say. Nor does the text name which facilities are appropriate reception facilities.