The Turkish Parliament has ratified The Hong
Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling
of Ships (“the Convention”) on 7 March 2017. Turkey had become a signatory to
the Convention on 26 August 2010. The field work which constitutes the
foundation of the Convention has been carried out and the Turkish ship
recycling facilities have been examined by international organisations.
According to information obtained from the Istanbul & Marmara, Aegean,
Mediterranian and Black Sea Regions Chamber of Shipping, all Turkish ship
recycling facilities comply with the standards set out in the Convention.
Furthermore, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and
Communication has played an active role in the drafting of the Convention.
The thrust of the Convention is to set
standards for ships and ship recycling facilities to ensure they operate in a
manner that does not pose any risk to human health, safety and the environment.
The rules stipulated by the Convention
address a multitude of issues, such as:
- the handling of environmentally hazardous
substances such as asbestos, heavy metals and hydrocarbons, which may be
contained in vessels that are sold for scrapping;
- the appropriate construction and operation
of vessels in order to ensure safe and sound recycling;
- the standards to be maintained by ship
recycling facilities in order to ensure secure working and environmental
conditions;
- the establishment of an enforcement
mechanism for ship recycling, including certification and reporting
obligations.
Pursuant to the Convention, an inventory of
existing hazardous materials shall have to be kept for all ships. Hazardous
materials which are prohibited on ships and in shipyards of the Convention
countries are listed in an appendix to the Convention. Ships will also have to
undergo a number of surveys prior to recycling in order to verify the inventory
of hazardous materials, based on which ship recycling facilities will procure a
“Ship Recycling Plan”, setting out the manner in which each ship will be
recycled.
Convention countries will be required to take
sufficient steps in order to guarantee that ship recycling facilities comply
with the standards stipulated in the Convention, aiming to ensure secure
working and environmental conditions.
The Convention will enter into force 24
months after the date on which the following conditions are met:
- Ratification by 15 states,
- Representation by 40 per cent of world
merchant shipping (by gross tonnage), and
- A
combined maximum annual ship recycling volume not less than 3 per cent of the
combined tonnage of the ratifying states.
Turkey was the sixth country to ratify the
Convention, following Norway, Congo, France, Belgium and Panama. Denmark has
taken first steps towards ratifying the Convention and is expected to do so in
spring 2017.
Related to the Convention, the European Union
(“EU”) has implemented Regulation No. 1257/2013 (“the Regulation”), which aims
to facilitate an early ratification of the Convention by EU member and
non-member states as well as raising the bar. Pursuant to Article 16 of the
Regulation, ship recycling facilities must be approved by competent authorities
for member states and the European Commission for non-member states in order to
be included in the “European List” and for that matter to be able to recycle
ships flying the flag of an EU-member state. Turkish ship recycling facilities
are keen to be part of the European List and are confident they will be in the
coming months. For further information about the Regulation and the European
List, please follow this linkto our news alert regarding this matter.
Source: 31
March 2017
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f38ed5e3-46eb-4958-b38d-cb01c1445dad
No comments:
Post a Comment