States start defining ship dismantling commitment

The implementation of a future global law on ship recycling was the major point of debate on the agenda of the main preparatory meeting for the eighth conference of parties to the Basel convention in November.

Delegates to an "open-ended working group" last week discussed how the new treaty should interact with the Basel convention, which governs the trans-border movement of hazardous waste.

The law is being discussed through the International maritime organisation (IMO) (EED 31/03/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/20713).  Last year Basel parties agreed the new treaty must provide an "equivalent level of control" to the convention.

Countries are now deciding how that requirement should be translated into practice. Stakeholders will now be asked to comment on how the overall level of control and enforcement of the Basel convention compares with the future IMO treaty.

The working group also asked stakeholders for suggestions on addressing ship recycling in the short and medium term. The initiative came from the UK, which recently became the first European country to launch a comprehensive ship recycling strategy (EED 31/03/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/20712).

The working group also finalised a series of technical guidelines for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that will be adopted at COP8.

Follow-up:

Basel convention http://www.basel.int/, plus ENB summary and analysis http://www.iisd.ca/basel/oewg5/ of the working group, IMO http://www.imo.org/home.asp?flash=false, draft ship recycling law http://www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/60331a.doc, and initial NGO response http://www.ban.org/ban_news/2006/060316_imo_treaty.html.

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