EUROPEAN COMMISSION - PRESS RELEASE
Environment: Commission proposes tighter laws on
ship breaking
Brussels, 23 March 2012 – The European Commission today proposed new rules
to ensure that European ships are only recycled in facilities that are safe for
workers and environmentally sound. More than 1000 large old commercial ships,
such as tankers and container vessels, are recycled for their scrap metal every
year, but many European ships end up in substandard facilities on the tidal beaches
of South Asia. These facilities mostly lack the environmental protection and safety
measures needed to manage the hazardous materials contained in end-of-life
ships. These include asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tributyl tin and oil
sludge. This leads to high accident rates and health risks for workers and extensive
environmental pollution.
Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "Although the ship recycling
sector has improved its practices, many facilities continue to operate under
conditions that are dangerous and damaging. This proposal aims to ensure that our
old ships are recycled in a way that respects the health of workers as well as the
environment. It is a clear signal to invest urgently in upgrading recycling facilities.”
Commissioner Potočnik presented the regulation jointly with Vice President Siim
Kallas, Commissioner for Transport.
The new rules, which will take the form of a Regulation, propose a system of
survey, certification and authorisation for large commercial seagoing vessels that fly
the flag of an EU Member State, covering their whole life cycle from construction to
operation and recycling.
This system builds upon the Hong Kong Convention for the safe and
environmentally sound recycling of ships, which was adopted in 2009. Today's
proposal aims to implement the Convention quickly, without waiting for its
ratification and entry into force, a process which will take several years. To speed
up the formal entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention, the Commission also
presented today a draft decision requiring Member States to ratify the Convention.
Under the new system, European ships will have to draw up an inventory of the
hazardous materials present on board, and apply for an inventory certificate. The
amount of hazardous waste on board (including in cargo residues, fuel oil, etc.)
must be reduced before the ship is delivered to a recycling facility.
Ship recycling facilities will have to meet a set of environmental and safety
requirements in order to be included on a list of authorised facilities world wide.
European ships will be allowed to be recycled only in facilities on the list. Some of
the requirements to be met by the ship recycling facilities are stricter than those
foreseen by the Hong Kong Convention. This will ensure better traceability for
European ships, and will guarantee that the waste resulting from dismantling (and
any hazardous materials it contains) is managed in an environmentally sound way.
IP/12/310
To ensure compliance, the proposal requires ship owners to report to national
authorities when they intend to send a ship for recycling. By comparing the list of
ships for which they have issued an inventory certificate with the list of ships which
have been recycled in authorized facilities, authorities will be able to spot illegal
recycling more easily. The sanctions proposed in the Regulation will also be more
specific and precise.
Next Steps
The Council and the European Parliament will now discuss the Commission
proposal.
Background
At present, the recycling of ships is governed by the Waste Shipment Regulation,
which prohibits the export of hazardous waste to non-OECD countries. However,
the existing legislation is not specifically designed for ships and is often
circumvented. This stems from a lack of adequate recycling capacity in OECD
countries – but it is also difficult to determine when a ship becomes waste and
which country is exporting the ship. The new proposal aims to address the
shortcomings of this legislation and to allow, under strict conditions, the recycling of
EU-flagged ships in non-OECD countries.
In 2009, more than 90 % of European ships were dismantled in ship recycling
facilities in non-OECD countries, some of which were substandard. The quantity of
European end-of-life ships is significant, since 17 % of world tonnage is registered
under an EU flag. This makes it a priority for the EU to improve ship dismantling
practices worldwide.
Highly concerned about the negative health and environmental impacts of ship
recycling, the Commission adopted an EU strategy for better ship dismantling on 19
November 2008. This strategy proposed a number of measures to improve ship
recycling as soon as possible, without waiting for the entry into force of the Hong
Kong Convention. Today's proposal builds on ideas contained in the strategy.
The Hong Kong Convention needs to be ratified by at least 15 major flag and
recycling countries to enter into force. These countries should represent at least 40
% of the world fleet and a significant part (almost 50 %) of the recycling capacity
available worldwide.
Further information:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/ships/index.htm
Contacts :
Robert Flies (+32 2 295 35 93)
Monica Westeren (+32 2 299 18 30)
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