NGOs
Call on a Financial Incentive to Ensure Effective Implementation of New EU Ship
Recycling Regulation
Brussels,
22 October 2013 – Today the European Parliament voted in favour of the new EU
Ship Recycling Regulation that bans the breaking of EU ships on beaches [1].
The new Regulation only allow ships registered under the flag of an EU Member
State to be dismantled in facilities that meet the requirements set out in the
Regulation and that are listed by the European Commission. It will also demand
Inventories of Hazardous Materials for all ships visiting European ports. These
are all welcomed elements that have repeatedly been called for by the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform to improve shipbreaking practices globally.
The
NGO coalition warns however that the Regulation will fail to change the current
state of play if no financial incentive is rapidly introduced to ensure
compliance with the new rules.
“Without
a financial incentive, circumvention of European law covering end-of-life
vessels will persist and European ship owners will be allowed to continue to
seek significant financial profits by externalizing environmental and human
health costs to the shipbreaking beaches of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, and
to the exploited workforce there,” said Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director
of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform [2].
The
new Regulation asks the European Commission to elaborate on the possibilities
of a financial mechanism to enhance clean and safe ship recycling [3]. Several
other elements that can contribute to ensuring a more robust legislative
framework are also left open for further development, such as the need to amend
the Environmental Crimes Directive (2008/99/EC) to include breaches of the new
Regulation and the need to develop adequate technical guidance notes on the
requirements for ship recycling facilities and for the certification and auditing
of ship recycling facilities outside the EU.
“To
ensure that the Regulation has a positive impact on improving ship recycling
practices globally the European Commission needs to make sure that the listed
facilities are properly audited and certified to guarantee Environmentally
Sound Management (ESM) of hazardous waste; that breaches of the law are
sanctioned in line with internationally accepted penalty schemes; and that ship
owners do not simply flag out to a non-EU flag prior to selling the vessel for
dismantling in an attempt to circumvent EU law,” said Patrizia Heidegger.
The
new Regulation does nothing to prevent ship owners from jumping register to a
non-EU flag prior to sending their ships for breaking in order to avoid falling
under the requirements of the law. In 2012, three quarters of European owned
vessels broken on the beaches of South Asia were registered under non-EU flags
such as Panama, Liberia and Bahamas. With the new Regulation being a further
incentive to flag out, vessels still registered under a flag of an EU Member
State at end-of-life is likely to decline even further to a disillusioning
number of ships, rendering the impact of the Ship Recycling Regulation
non-existent for the purpose of improving ship recycling practices [4]. In
fact, the Regulation may even have the unintended effect of shrinking the
number of ships registered under an EU flag, and therefore making the
Regulation counterproductive to other EU initiatives aimed at building a more
robust EU fleet.
Recent
studies have proposed an array of possible mechanisms to implement the polluter
pays principle for end-of-life ships and have clearly shown that a financial
incentive for proper ship recycling is legally feasible, enforceable, and
necessary [5].
In
adopting the new Ship Recycling Regulation, the EU will also inevitably be
forced to reconcile the illegality of unilaterally acting in non-compliance
with international law – NGOs, independent environmental law experts and even
the European Council Legal Services have warned of the illegality of the new
Regulation [6].
CONTACT:
Ingvild
Jenssen
Policy
Advisor
NGO
Shipbreaking Platform
+32
2 609 44 20
NOTES:
[1]
The EU Ship Recycling Regulation will be published in the Official Journal
towards the end of this year of beginning of 2014. The regulation will be
applicable at the earliest 2 years and at the latest 5 years after its entry
into force.
[2]
In 2012, 70% of all end-of-life ships were broken in Bangladesh, Pakistan and
India on tidal beaches whose soft sands cannot support crucial safety measures
such as heavy lifting or emergency response equipment and which allow pollution
to seep directly into the delicate coastal zone environment. No country in the
developed world allows ships to be broken on their beaches. While shipbreaking
can be done in a safe and clean way with proper technologies and
infrastructure, and enforced regulations, most ship owners choose to sell their
ships for significantly greater profit to substandard yards operating in
countries without adequate resources to provide safeguards and infrastructure
to manage the dangerous business. On the South Asian shipbreaking beaches,
vulnerable migrant workers, many of them children, break apart massive and
toxic ships by hand, often without shoes, gloves, hard hats or masks to protect
their lungs from asbestos, and poison fumes. The International Labour
Organization (ILO) considers shipbreaking on beaches to be among the world’s
most dangerous jobs.
[3]
The new Ship Recycling Regulation asks the Commission to “submit […] a report
on the feasibility of a financial instrument that would facilitate safe and
sound ship recycling and [..] if appropriate, accompany it by a legislative
proposal”. The recitals further state “In the interest of protecting human
health and the environment and having regard to the “polluter pays” principle,
the Commission should assess the feasibility of establishing a financial
mechanism applicable to all ships calling at Union ports and anchorages,
irrespective of the flag they are flying, to generate resources that would
facilitate the environmentally sound recycling and treatment of ships without
creating an incentive to out-flag”.
[4]
The scope of the Regulation on ship recycling at end-of-life is limited to EU
flagged vessels only – this represents less than 10% of the vessels sent for
breaking. In 2012, 143 ships that were registered under an EU Member State’s
flag were broken. Of these vessels, 102 were broken on the beaches of South
Asia, while the vast majority (76 ships) were registered under either the
Greek, Cypriot or Maltese flag. Already, most European owned vessels broken on
the beaches of South Asia are registered under non-EU flags such as Panama,
Liberia and the Bahamas. Just as ship owners circumvent the current export
prohibition under the European Waste Shipment Regulation by not declaring their
intent to dispose the vessel whilst at a European port, it is very likely that
more ship owners will circumvent the new EU rules by simply flagging out to
non-EU flags at end-of-life, so that they avoid extra costs of using safe and
environmentally sound ship recycling facilities.
[5]
A financial instrument will provide a strong incentive to prevent ship owners
from reflagging as the costs for proper end-of-life management will already
have been pre-paid. The study prepared by Profundo, entitled Financial
mechanisms to ensure responsible ship recycling (2013) outlines possible
options and recommendations taking into account scope, calculations of
contributions, collection of dues, beneficiaries, and enforcement.
[65]
The new ship recycling Regulation conflicts with the United Nations Basel
Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and
Their Disposal and the Basel Ban Amendment, both of which are instruments that
have been ratified and implemented into the national legislation of all EU
Member States via the European Waste Shipment Regulation, and of which the
latter forbids the export of hazardous wastes from the EU to non-OECD
countries. Article 29 of the EU law on ship recycling removes hazardous waste
ships from the scope of application of the European Waste Shipment Regulation.
There are clear and compelling legal opinions proving that this unilateral
exemption of ships is a breach of the European Union’s legal obligations to
uphold international law. For more see: Ludwig KRÄMER – The Commission Proposal
for a Regulation on ship recycling, the Basel Convention and the protection of
the environment (2012); CIEL – Legality of the EU Commission proposal on ship
recycling (2012); Council of the European Union – Opinion of the Legal Service
16995/12 (28 November 2012).
Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
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