Wärtsilä has received the final approval status from the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) for its Aquarius® EC ballast water treatment system (BWTS).

The approval was granted at the MEPC's 65th session, recently held at the IMO headquarters in London. The basic approval had been granted in October 2012.
The approval submission was taken into consideration as part of the MEPC 65's agenda covering "harmful aquatic organisms in ballast water". Final approval is required for systems using an active substance, and is based upon examination of full scale prototype test data and all required supporting documentation on aspects such as risk and safety to the ship, crew, general public, and the environment.
The documented information was reviewed and approved by a joint panel of experts from the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environment Protection ballast water working group. The application was submitted to the IMO by the Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate. A key element of the Final Approval submission was an investigation covering the impact of treated ballast water on coated and uncoated materials. A full type approval certificate for the Aquarius® EC system is expected by end of July this year.