BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

1. MC tasks in general
The Tasks and Aims of the
Maritime Committee of the
Helsinki-Commission
Within the framework of the Helsinki Commission the Maritime
Committee (MC) is responsible for the elaboration of environment
protection measures as far as maritime shipping is concerned.
The work of MC differs from that of the other committees in two
aspects particularly:
a)
b)
The prevention of pollution from ships requires binding
regulations covering territorial waters as well as the high
seas.
As shipping is international by nature relevant regulations
must be applied by all ships, i.e. also by those ships not
flying the flag of a state bording the Baltic Sea.
As a consequence the task of MC must be to promote the adoption
of appropriate international regulations and to look for their
effective and harmonized implementation by the Baltic Sea
States.
1.1 Promotion of international regulations
The promotion of international regulations cannot be done on a
regional level, only, but must be dealt with on a world wide
international level. Therefore, the IMO is the most appropriate
international forum. To reach decisions by IMO in the interest
of the protection of the Baltic Sea environment, it has been
proven to be very beneficial, if the Baltic Sea States undertake
common actions. This means that they must closely co-operate
within IMO by taking common initiatives and by co-ordinating
their position with regard to those matters relevant for the
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