MEPC (IMO)

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) is the IMO body that handles prevention and control of pollution from ships. It develops and amends MARPOL across all six Annexes, the BWM Convention, the Anti-Fouling Systems Convention, and the energy-efficiency regime including EEDI, EEXI, and CII. MEPC adopts its decisions as numbered resolutions, written as MEPC.NNN(SS) where SS is the session, for example MEPC.328(76) for the EEXI requirements. It meets roughly once or twice a year and works through sub-committees such as PPR (Pollution Prevention and Response). Its resolutions become binding through amendments brought into force under MARPOL’s tacit-acceptance procedure.