Support to Cuba in the implementation and compliance of the Convention on antifouling systems

A national in-person workshop was held on September 26 and 27 in Havana, Cuba to help Cuba ratify and implement the Antifouling Systems Convention (AFS Convention).
The AFS Convention establishes controls on certain harmful substances in antifouling systems, including organotin compounds such as tributyltin and (from 2023) cybutrin, and provides a mechanism for the introduction of controls on other substances in the future.
The participants in the workshop, mostly government personnel and stakeholders, were sensitized on the measures that Cuba should take at the national level to ratify and subsequently implement and fully enforce the AFS Convention. The workshop covered technical and regulatory aspects of antifouling systems and assessed Cuba's readiness to effectively implement and enforce the AFS Convention following its ratification. The workshop program included presentations and a visit to a dry dock, which gave participants the opportunity to see in practice and discuss relevant aspects affecting the implementation and compliance of regulations, such as inspection and waste management.
Organized by the Cuban Maritime Administration, this national workshop, which was initially previously planned for 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is the continuation of a regional workshop on the AFS Convention for the Caribbean region, which It was held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2018. Cuba is working to ratify the AFS Convention.
Since the adoption of the AFS Convention in 2001, IMO has organized national and regional workshops to encourage and assist countries in ratifying the convention and in its effective implementation and compliance. The number of signatory States to the convention continues to increase and currently amounts to 96 countries, representing 96.03% of the world's merchant marine tonnage. This contributes to improving the protection of the marine environment.
The workshop was conducted through the IMO Integrated Technical Cooperation Program (ITCP), with the support of the Regional Activities Centre/Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Information and Training Centre, Wider Caribbean ( REMPEITC-Caribbean).