Norway: sewage ban for ships near Svalbard

The Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment has announced a future ban on sewage waste deposits from ships within 12 nautical miles from land along the Norwegian coast and around Svalbard. The Minister has said that the regulations for such deposits will be stricter and that they will apply to all kinds of vessels, regardless of their size and how many persons they are certified to take. This will translate into a change of the requirements for sewage discharges from ships to the north and west of Lindesnes by the end of 2018. More information may be found here (in English, only on measures to combat marine litter) and, with more detail, here (in Norwegian). The letter of the Minister may be found here (in Norwegian).