The 2004 international convention on the control and management of ballast water and sediment on ships (BWM convention) came into force in September 2017 and has been ratified by 79 countries, accounting for 80.94% of the world's merchant shipping tonnage. At the recent IMO 73rd sea rim conference, amendments to the BWM convention were adopted. Guidance on System Design Limitations of ballast water management systems and their monitoring was approved by hec. Guidance for the commissioning testing of ballast water management systems. The committee adopted Guidelines for ballast water management and development of ballast water management plans (G4) to address information integration related to accident measures in the ballast water management plan.

In view of the experience gained, unced has recognized that the BWM convention may need to be improved in the future and has approved a data collection and analysis plan for the experience-building phase. Based on the experience and feedback gained and on the analysis of the data collected, draft amendments to the convention could be proposed for future consideration by hoi rim. The commission has been updated on the data collection preparations. It was agreed that two newly generated elements should be included in its agenda: the review of the BWM convention on the basis of data collected during the empirical period and urgent measures arising from issues identified during the empirical period of the BWM convention, both with a target year of completion of 2023. The commission also directed the IMO sub-committee on human factors, training and watchkeeping (HTW) to develop BWM training regulations for seafarers, with a target year of 2021. Two ballast water management systems using Active Substances (Active Substances) were also approved.