Ballast Water Regulations (SOR/2021-120)

Marginal note:Maintenance

8 A vessel must ensure that its ballast water management plan remains up to date and reflects the means by which the vessel complies with the requirements of these Regulations.

Marginal note:Submission to Minister

• 9 (1) The authorized representative of a Canadian vessel or a Canadian pleasure craft must submit to the Minister any amendment to the ballast water management plan.

• Marginal note:Approval of amendments

  (2) The Minister must approve any amendment to the ballast water management plan if the amendment meets the requirements in respect of the plan that are set out in regulation B-1 of the Annex.

Regulation B-2 of the Annex — Ballast Water Record Book

Marginal note:Language of record book

10 Despite regulation B-2 of the Annex, entries made in the ballast water record book of a Canadian vessel or a Canadian pleasure craft must be written in English or French, or in both.

Regulation B-3 of the Annex — Ballast Water Management

Compliance Timeline

Marginal note:Certain vessels

• 11 (1) Despite regulation B-3 of the Annex, a vessel constructed before the day on which these Regulations come into force is not required to conduct ballast water management to meet the ballast water performance standard until September 8, 2024, and a vessel constructed before January 1, 2009 is not required to conduct ballast water management to meet that standard until September 8, 2030, if the vessel is operated exclusively

  • (a) in waters under Canadian jurisdiction and, if applicable, the United States’ waters of the Great Lakes Basin; or

  • (b) in waters described in paragraph (a) and on the high seas.

• Marginal note:Definition of constructed

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), constructed has the same meaning as in regulation A-1 of the Annex.

Ballast Water Performance Standard

Marginal note:Deemed compliance

• 12 (1) A vessel using a ballast water management system to meet the ballast water performance standard is deemed to have met that standard in respect of ballast water taken on board in the Great Lakes Basin or in the eastern waters of the St. Lawrence River, if

  • (a) the vessel’s ballast water management system was installed before September 8, 2024 or, in the case of a vessel constructed before January 1, 2009 that is operated exclusively in waters described in paragraph 11(1)(a) or (b), the system was installed before September 8, 2030;

  • (b) the vessel meets the requirements of section 8;

  • (c) the vessel holds and keeps on board a valid IBWM Certificate or an equivalent document referred to in section 23;

  • (d) the vessel’s ballast water management system is in good working order and has been maintained and operated in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions; and

  • (e) the ballast water is managed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions for the vessel’s ballast water management system, subject to any limiting operating conditions or other restrictions identified in the Type Approval Certificate evidencing the system’s approval under regulation D-3 of the Annex.

• Marginal note:Definition of eastern waters of the St. Lawrence River

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), eastern waters of the St. Lawrence River means the waters of the St. Lawrence River from the lower exit of the St. Lambert Lock at Montréal in Quebec as far seaward as a straight line drawn from Cap-des-Rosiers to Pointe Ouest, Anticosti Island, and from Anticosti Island to the north shore of the St. Lawrence River along the meridian of longitude 63° W, and their connecting and tributary waters.

Alternative Methods of Ballast Water Management

Marginal note:Alternative methods

13 A vessel may, instead of conducting ballast water management to meet the ballast water exchange standard or the ballast water performance standard, as applicable,

• (a) conduct ballast water management in accordance with an alternative method referred to in regulation B-3.7 of the Annex if that method has been approved in accordance with the requirements of that regulation; or

• (b) release potable water, taken on board as ballast water from a public or commercial source in Canada or the United States, into waters under Canadian jurisdiction or on the high seas if it has not been mixed with other ballast water, including residual amounts, or with sediments.

Regulation B-4 of the Annex — Ballast Water Exchange

Marginal note:Areas for exchange

• 14 (1) A vessel that enters waters under Canadian jurisdiction from waters other than the United States’ waters of the Great Lakes Basin and that conducts ballast water management to meet the ballast water exchange standard must conduct the exchange

  • (a) in an area that is at least 200 nautical miles from the nearest land and where water depth is at least 2 000 m;

  • (b) in an area described in, and in accordance with, regulation B-4.1 of the Annex, if the vessel cannot meet the requirements of paragraph (a); or

  • (c) in one of the alternate ballast water exchange areas designated by the Minister in TP 13617, if the vessel cannot meet the requirements of paragraph (a) or (b).

• Marginal note:Record keeping

  (2) The master of a vessel that does not comply with subsection (1) must enter the reasons in the ballast water record book.

Regulation C-1 of the Annex — Additional Measures

Releases in Canadian Fresh Waters

Marginal note:Exchange requirement

• 15 (1) In addition to meeting the requirements of the Convention, a vessel that conducts ballast water management to meet the ballast water performance standard must not release ballast water in Canadian fresh waters described in TP 13617 unless that ballast water was first exchanged in accordance with the ballast water exchange standard

  • (a) in an area, and in the manner, described in subsection 14(1), if the sequential method — as described in the 2017 Guidelines for ballast water exchange (G6), published by the International Maritime Organization — was used; or

  • (b) on the high seas, in any other case.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the ballast water to be released was taken on board in waters under Canadian jurisdiction, in the United States’ waters of the Great Lakes Basin or in waters in an area described in subsection 14(1) and has not been mixed with residual amounts taken elsewhere than from those waters.

• Marginal note:Exception — extraordinary conditions

  (3) A vessel is not required to exchange ballast water in accordance with subsection (1) if the master determines, on reasonable grounds, that the exchange would threaten the safety or stability of the vessel, its crew or its passengers because of adverse weather, vessel design or stress, equipment failure or any other extraordinary conditions.

• Marginal note:Record keeping

  (4) The master of a vessel that does not comply with subsection (1) must enter the reasons in the ballast water record book.

Saltwater Flushing

Marginal note:Residual amounts

• 16 (1) In addition to meeting the requirements of the Convention, a vessel that conducts ballast water management to meet the ballast water exchange standard must conduct a saltwater flushing of tanks that contain only residual amounts unless those residual amounts were taken on board in accordance with the ballast water exchange standard and subsection 14(1).

• Marginal note:Saltwater flushing

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), saltwater flushing consists of the following measures undertaken in the following order:

  • (a) the addition of water to the ballast tanks in accordance with the requirements for ballast water exchange set out in subsection 14(1);

  • (b) the mixing, through the motion of the vessel, of the water added under paragraph (a) with the residual amounts and any sediments that have settled in the tanks; and

  • (c) the release, in accordance with the requirements for ballast water exchange set out in subsection 14(1), of the waters mixed under paragraph (b) so that the salinity of the resulting residual amounts in the tanks exceeds 30 parts per thousand or is as close as possible to 30 parts per thousand.

Regulation D-3 of the Annex — Ballast Water Management Systems

Marginal note:Minister’s approval

17 Any ballast water management system used on a Canadian vessel or a Canadian pleasure craft must be approved by the Minister in accordance with regulation D-3 of the Annex.

Marginal note:Type Approval Certificate

18 A vessel must keep on board a copy of the Type Approval Certificate issued in respect of a ballast water management system installed on the vessel that evidences the system’s approval under regulation D-3 of the Annex.

Regulation D-4 of the Annex — Prototype Ballast Water Treatment Technologies

Marginal note:Statement of Compliance

19 A vessel that is participating in one of the programs referred to in regulation D-4 of the Annex must hold and keep on board a valid Statement of Compliance referred to in the Guidelines for approval and oversight of prototype ballast water treatment technology programmes (G10), published by the International Maritime Organization.

Section E of the Annex — Inspection and Certification Requirements

Certificates

Marginal note:IBWM Certificate

20 Every vessel to which regulation E-1 of the Annex applies must hold and keep on board a valid IBWM Certificate.

Regulation E-2 — Issuance of IBWM Certificate

Marginal note:Issuance of certificate

21 On application by the authorized representative of a Canadian vessel or a Canadian pleasure craft, the Minister must issue an IBWM Certificate to the vessel or pleasure craft if the requirements of an initial or renewal inspection set out in section E of the Annex are met.

Marginal note:Endorsements

22 A Canadian vessel or a Canadian pleasure craft that holds an IBWM Certificate must ensure that the certificate is endorsed by the Minister as required by section E of the Annex.

Vessels of Non-Parties to the Convention

Marginal note:Equivalent document

23 A vessel that is entitled to fly the flag of a state that is not a party to the Convention must not take on board or release ballast water in waters under Canadian jurisdiction unless that vessel holds and keeps on board a document issued by or on behalf of the government of that state that certifies that the vessel meets the requirements of the Convention.

Reporting

Marginal note:Canadian Ballast Water Reporting Form

24 The master of a vessel that is bound for a port, offshore terminal or anchorage area in Canada must, in the manner specified by the Minister, submit a completed Canadian Ballast Water Reporting Form to the Minister.

Consequential Amendments, Repeal and Coming into Force

Consequential Amendments

Administrative Monetary Penalties and Notices (CSA 2001) Regulations

25 [Amendments]

Aquatic Invasive Species Regulations

26 [Amendments]

Repeal

27 The Ballast Water Control and Management RegulationsFootnote ³ are repealed.

• Return to footnote ³SOR/2011-237

Coming into Force

Marginal note:Registration

28 These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.