Baltic and European news
EU floats ideas for greener ship dismantling
2324, 22/05/07
A planned international ship scrapping regime should include a recycling fund financed by compulsory payments from the shipping industry, the European commission says in a green paper released on Tuesday. The call amounts to a move to apply producer responsibility to the shipping sector.
The paper supports efforts underway in the International maritime organisation (IMO) to introduce a global regulation on ship recycling (EED 16/10/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/21851) but says the EU should introduce its own regional rules if a global mandatory recycling fund is "not achievable".
Ship owners and "possibly other beneficiaries of shipping" - perhaps a reference to cargo owners - would have to pay into the fund, says the commission. Contributions would be linked to IMO registration or a ship's use phase to prevent operators from evading responsibility.
The fund would resemble existing oil pollution funds under the Marpol convention. Work on the green paper began last year, prompted by a public outcry in France over the fate of an aircraft carrier originally destined for scrapping in India (EED 15/02/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/20394). It sets out how the EU can improve ship dismantling standards.
Contrary to an earlier draft of the document and suggestions by EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas (EED 01/02/07 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/22531 and EED 26/04/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/20851), the green paper does not encourage public funding to build up recycling capacity in Europe.
Instead says only that the question should receive "special attention". The commission urges member states to drive "green" dismantling and pre-cleaning services in the EU by applying strict rules to their own state-owned ships. It cites the UK national ship scrapping strategy as a good example (EED 31/03/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/20712).
Among other ways to improve ship dismantling, the paper says the EU could incorporate environmental standards into political and economic negotiations with recycling states, controls could be improved in ports, and a European certification scheme for clean recycling could be established. The EU could also consider restricting the use of certain hazardous substances in shipbuilding.
"We are very happy with [the green paper] and urge the commission to implement its recommendations as soon as possible," said Ingvild Jenssen, coordinator of the NGO platform on shipbreaking.
Follow-up: European commission http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm, tel: +32 2 299 1111, plus press release
and green paper http://www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/70522c.doc.
See also NGO press release http://www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/70522b.doc.
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