The BVI have sovereignity over their territory. Let us assume that they do indeed enact and enforce this law for visiting vessels, which is their right. The IMO is not a legislative body, but as of the first such enforcement, they would recommend that no IMO vessels enter the territory as they would lose insurance cover. Guess what, cruise ships are registered to flag nations which are IMO signatories. Thus no more cruise ships and no more cargo vessels would be sailing to the BVI as they are required, by their flag law, to carry such flares which are now illegal in the BVI. This would be the natural progression if the BVI loses its signatory status, but everyone knows that it would never escalate so far and thus my comment that the BVI will never let this happen.