Dias Marine Consultants Co Ltd, our correspondents in Ukraine, has provided us with the following information:
Quote: The situation concerning the segregated ballast control now existing in the Ukrainian ports is still rather dubious. Despite the new law of Ukraine which cancels segregated ballast quality control on board the ships, local (regional) ecological inspections are trying to go on with their “ecological racketeering”. On May 20, 2015, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dismissed the acting Head of Ecological Service of Ukraine, Mr. Vasiliy Sinegub, from his office for his failure to ensure compliance with the new law and failure to exercise due control of ecological inspections in the ports of the country.

Ecological inspection officials, using lies and various insinuations, continue their successful attempts to exact bribes from the ships’ masters.

Special instructions were given to the Immigrations Service of Ukraine not to include the representatives of the ecological inspections into the list of those official bodies who are to carry out inward clearance of the ship. Thus, they are a kind of moved away from control functions.

Nevertheless, the ecological inspectors may appear on board on their own during discharging operations and take samples of the ballast taking advantage of the Master’s lack of knowledge of the Ukrainian laws. In such cases we would strongly recommend the masters not to follow the inspectors’ instructions: and not to allow them to take any ballast samples. A master can offer the inspectors to visit the ship next day to speak to them in the presence of a P&I Correspondent or a lawyer.

I, for my part, have prepared an extract from the main present-day regulations concerning ecological inspection, which I enclose with this message. A master may present / show this extract to the agent or ecological inspector in support of his position.

Extract from main Ukrainian present-day ecological regulations

On April 03 2015 there came into force Order 82 dd. 18.03.2015 (filing No. 343/26788) of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine “on introducing changes into some state ecological control regulations”. By virtue of this Order chemical control of segregated ballast is cancelled. The said Order is aimed at improvement of the ecological control service activity and also it is intended to bring certain Ukrainian normative and legal acts in conformity with the international law.

For example, some changes were made in the regulations related to ecological control of ships at the national frontier check-points and areas covered by the regional customs. In particular, Item 1.4 of the said regulations gives a definition of the notion of “segregated ballast” in accordance with MARPOL Convention 73/78. Besides, paragraph 7 of Item 1.12 of the said regulations was also amended – in the new redaction authority of the state ecological inspectors to make analysis of the segregated ballast water is annulled. In the same way their authority to take samples and carry out laboratory analyses of the segregated ballast for its contents and characteristics is withdrawn by force of the amended Item 6.9 of the marine ecological inspections regulations.
Source: The Swedish Club