The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Procedure for Inspecting Vessels, Taking Water Samples in Seaports, and Analyzing them at its meeting on August 21.
Maryna Sharapa, a partner at the Agreka law firm, announced this to the CFTS portal. Yaryna Skorokhod, the coordinator of the European Business Association’s logistics committee, confirmed this information.
As reported, after the government adopted a new procedure for interaction among government agencies on environmental issues in seaports in July, industry experts and representatives of port businesses stated that the next step should be adoption of a procedure for taking water samples. This was also stated in the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ukrainian Seaports Authority (USPA).
Sharapa explained in comments to the CFTS portal that the Procedure for Inspecting Vessels, Taking Water Samples in Seaports, and Analyzing them “clearly regulates the actions of ecologists during collection of samples and their analysis both in port waters and on vessels: the period for taking and analyzing samples, the places where samples can be taken, the container in which samples are kept, the volumes of sales, etc. This procedure also approves the methods for conducting tests and regulates the issues of the laboratories that are authorized to conduct such tests: these are not only laboratories under the State Economic Inspectorate but also other laboratories that are accredited to conduct such tests by the Ukrainian national accreditation body."
“Until the procedure for taking water samples enters into force, any actions by ecologists to inspect ballast water and vessels are illegal because such inspections are prohibited by the Cabinet of Ministers decision No. 269, specifically the amendments that were made to it on March 27, 2019,” Sharapa said.
