But denounce illegal removal of ships from Basel
regime
Brussels, 26 March 2013 –Today NGOs have applauded a
breakthrough vote by a large majority of Members of the Environment Committee
of the European Parliament (ENVI), across all political groups, to create a
Europe-wide ship recycling fund, an economic incentive to finance
environmentally sound ship recycling and internalise the costs of proper hazardous
waste management. The fund is supported by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a
global coalition of 18 environmental, human rights and labour rights
organisations working for safer and cleaner ship recycling practices worldwide.
The idea, which was pushed forward by the Rapporteur Carl Schlyter, a Swedish
MEP from the Greens-EFA group, is to have all ships calling at EU ports pay a
fee into the fund, which will disburse premiums for safe and sound ship
recycling in carefully vetted EU-listed facilities. The fund
should eliminate the price gap to substandard facilities located on
beaches in non-OECD countries where shipowners currently obtain the highest
prices for their end-of-life ships, even when shipbreaking workers are killed
and suffer from occupational diseases caused by the toxic materials present in
these ships.
Moreover, the NGOs welcome the groundbreaking
decision to outlaw beaching, the polluting and dangerous practice of breaking
ships on tidal beaches.
“This EU regulation can be the first supra-national
legally-binding rule which prohibits beaching,” says Patrizia Heidegger, the
Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “In the future, beaching
must be replaced by safer methods in all countries, as has been agreed upon by
the international community in the Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Wastes and their Disposal.”
However, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and several
legal experts also decry the Parliament’s Environment Committee for voting to
remove toxic ships from the EU Waste Shipment Regulation, a proposal that would
suddenly legalise the export of end-of-life ships built with asbestos, heavy
metals or PCBs to non-OECD countries. The Platform warns that this unilateral
step violates the EU’s and Member States’ obligations under the Basel
Convention and the Basel Ban Amendment.
“Such a proposal does not stand against any careful
analysis of European and international law,” says Ludwig Krämer, an
environmental lawyer and former head of the waste management unit at the
European Commission’s DG Environment. In November 2012, Krämer argued in a
legal analysis that removing end-of-life ships from the EU Waste Shipment
Regulation was against international law.
Under the international Basel Convention to which all
Member States and the EU itself are parties, and under current European law
(Waste Shipment Regulation) ships sold for recycling are considered hazardous
waste, the export of which from the EU to non-OECD countries like India is
currently illegal. There can be no unilateral decision that ships are not
hazardous waste: only the Basel Convention itself can decide on this matter,
which they have not. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform welcomed that Vittorio
Prodi, a Social Democrat MEP (S&D), had been in favour of keeping the Basel
regime applied to EU-flagged ships, but unfortunately his amendments were voted
against.
“This vote also goes against the Parliament’s own
resolutions,” says Patrizia Heidegger. “Less than two weeks ago, the Parliament
inked a resolution in plenary calling for the end of the ‘illegal and
unethical’ export of end-of-life ships containing asbestos to developing
countries. We call on all members of the European Parliament to refuse to let
the Basel regime lose its grasp on European toxic ships.”
Unfortunately, amendments tabled by Sabine Wils, an
MEP from the Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left
(GUE/NGL), for clearer requirements for
green ship design, were voted against. Introducing a definition for green ship
design would have meant less hazardous materials in new-built ships, and would
also have reduced the risk of burdening developing countries with toxic waste.
The NGOs also supported Tadeusz Cymanski, an MEP from
the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group (EFD), who promoted clean and safe
ship recycling in the EU. Despite being an economic opportunity for the EU, his
amendments were voted against.
CONTACT:
Patrizia Heidegger
Executive director
NGO Shipbreaking Platform
+32 (0) 2 6094 419
Source: Shipbreaking platform . 26 March 2013
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