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Technical Notices

EU Commision Notice-2020/c 349/01- EU Guidelines for the IHM compliance

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EU Commission has adopted a Notice providing “Guidelines on the enforcement of obligations under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation relating to the Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) of vessels operating in European Waters, considering the disruptions caused by Covid-19.

Since seems to be very likely many ships to be unable to comply with the IHM obligations and may not have the required certification by the deadline of 31 December 2020, EC has suggested to EU member states to apply a harmonised approach for a limited period of 6 months after the entry into application of the IHM-related obligations for existing EU flagged ships and non-EU flagged ships calling at EU ports (i.e. until 30 June 2021).

Harmonized approach is proposed for the following two specific Covid-19 related scenarios:

  • Vessels without a valid IHM and/or accompanying certificate
  • Vessels with a semi-completed IHM with an associated approved Inventory Certificate or Ready for Recycling Certificate (for EU flagged ships) or the Statement of Compliance (for non-EU Flagged ships), that does not contain on-board (either targeted or random) sampling

In this harmonised approach, the following guidance is provided:

  1. In all cases of non-compliance, including a semi-completed IHM, the burden of proof is on the shipowner/ship master, who should provide evidence of all the measures taken to undertake the IHM work and obtain the required certification and documentation. It should be noted that an automatic recourse to the notion of force-majeure is not an option. 
  2. Port State control (PSC) inspectors are advised to assess evidence provided on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific circumstances of the ship in question and decide accordingly. In case of acceptance, the IHM should be completed and approved within 4 months of such a PSC inspection.
  3. If these plans are to be amended further owing to the Covid-19 travel and access restrictions, the shipowner/master should obtain sufficient written evidence from the IHM inspectors for assessment by the next PSC inspector.
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