Guidance on non-availability of compliant fuel oil for North American ECA *Update*

Vessels operating within the North American Emission Control Area (ECA) are required to use fuel oil with a sulphur content of not more than 1.00% m/m. However, if despite the owners or operators best efforts, they are unable to procure compliant fuel oil prior to entering the North American ECA, both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the vessel’s flag state must be notified.

The EPA currently requires notification to be made through the email submission of a Fuel Oil Non-Availability Report (FONAR) as soon as possible but no later than 96 hours prior to entering the North American ECA.

The EPA has now created a new mandatory reporting website, the Central Data Exchange (CDX), where owners and operators must now submit a Fuel Oil Non-Availability Disclosure (FOND) form.

With effect from 11 March 2013 the only method of reporting non-compliant fuel will be through the CDX portal as FONAR reports will no longer be accepted by email.

Prior to using the CDX portal users must complete an electronic registration  and must also submit a paper electronic signature agreement. Members should ensure that this signature agreement is submitted to the EPA prior to 11 March 2013, as without this agreement FONAR reports submitted through the portal may not be processed. This could result in the EPA treating the use of non-compliant fuel as an unreported event and enforcement action being taken.

The EPA have produced instructions relating to the submission of FONAR reports and CDX portal registration instructions. 

11 July 2012 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently issued a memorandum titled Interim Guidance on the Non-Availability of Compliant Fuel Oil for the North American Emission Control Area.The guidance provides details on how the U.S. government will implement fuel oil availability provisions for ship owners and operators who are unable to obtain fuel oil which meets the required sulphur standards for ships operating in waters off the coast of North America.

A copy of the guidance can be read here.

The guidance provides background information on the North American Emission Control Area (ECA) fuel oil sulphur standards, which are due to become enforceable on 1 August 2012. The guidance also explains how owners and operators of vessels can establish compliance with these requirements and describes how an owner or operator of a vessel which cannot obtain compliant fuel oil can make a fuel oil non-availability claim