Brussels, 5 October 2016 - In a position
paper published today, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform calls on the European
Commission, the European Parliament and Member States to support the
introduction of a financial mechanism that will enhance safe and
environmentally sound ship recycling in line with the standard set by the
European Ship Recycling Regulation. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform asks the EC
to develop a legislative proposal in order to implement the polluter pays
principle for ship owners with a European Ship Recycling Licence.
“Ship owners are all up in arms against an EU
Ship Recycling License. A surprise? No. The shipping industry has been on the
go for the last 15 years trying hard to fight off regulation that would really
hold them accountable for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking practices. Now it is
finally time to act!”, says Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform.
Already 20 years ago, the human rights abuses
and pollution caused by unsustainable shipbreaking practices were first raised
at the international level, in public fora and in the media. In 2015,
Bangladesh, where conditions are known to be worst, was again the ship owners’
preferred destination for breaking large ocean-going ships. It is therefore
high time to hold the shipping industry accountable for the proper recycling of
end-of-life ships. The Platform calls for effective solutions that end the
dangerous and dirty breaking of ships on the beaches of South Asia and finally
initiate the transition of the industry towards clean and safe methods
globally. A European measure that applies to all ships calling at EU ports and
is flag neutral is necessary to increase environmental and social protection
during end-of-life management and to ensure that ship owners have to
internalise the costs.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform therefore calls:
- on the European Commission, the European
Parliament and Member States to support a legislative proposal that introduces
an effective financial incentive in line with the polluter pays principle that
supports clean and safe ship recycling;
- upon the EU and Member States to ensure
that European shipping companies follow EU environmental law and do not resort
to end-of-life practices that would never be allowed in Europe, in particular
the dismantling of end-of-life ships in the intertidal zone of a beach;
- on Member States to support the
transposition of the efforts made at the European level, that is, a quality
standard for ship recycling, the EU List of approved ship recycling facilities
and a financial incentive similar to the ship recycling licence, to the
international level.
Click
below to download the position paper
Source: NGO
Shipbreaking Platform. 6 October 2016
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