Brussels, 25/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 25 October, EU environment ministers meeting in Luxembourg said that it is absolutely imperative that ships flying the flag of an EU member state are recycled in third countries that respect the environment and the health of workers, because it is unacceptable that old boats containing hazardous substances are recycled in third countries. The recycling of these old boats is mainly done on the beaches of Southeast Asia. A unanimous vote at the Council orientation debate on this text was reached on the objectives of this new draft regulation on recycling old boats. It was welcomed as a means of implementing the Hong Kong Convention on safe and ecologically friendly ship recycling and a way to speed this process up (see EUROPE 10717 and EUROPE 10581). Certain delegations, however, expressed some doubts and fears regarding regional measures that could have a potentially harmful impact on the competitiveness of the European fleet if the Hong Kong Convention is not applied, and the surcharges of the more ambitious European measures encourages shipbuilders to change their flag before they begin their respective recycling exercises. This explains the determination of the majority to stick closely to the international text. The president of the Council, Sofoclis Aletraris, drew the following lessons from the debate:
Everyone recognises the seriousness of the recycling problem and the need for measures to be put in place in the EU as rapidly as possible.
Several member states would like the regulation to be extended to non-European countries and applied to all boats moored in EU ports (Romania, Malta, Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus).
A majority of countries (Greece, the United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Estonia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Croatia, the latter as an EU candidate country) is in favour of aligning the future regulation on the demands of the Hong Kong Convention with the possibility of amending it when the Convention enters into force. Finland, Sweden and Denmark proved to be an exception in this matter and seek to go further than the provisions contained in the Hong Kong Convention. Denmark underlined the fact that taking action before implementation of the Convention would give European ship-owners a competitive edge.
To the great disappointment of the Commissioner for the environment, Janez Potocnik, most of the delegations did not want detailed provisions on sanctions in the event of infringement (because this was within the scope of member states) or legal access (which is already covered by European legislation transposing the Aarhus Convention). Some delegations, however, would be in favour of this (Spain and Belgium, Greece for proportionate sanctions and Italy and France for sanctions).
The Cypriot presidency will prepare a progress report that will be submitted during the next presidency for a discussion in the first half of next year. The Irish minister expressed hope that a first reading agreement could be obtained under the Irish presidency.
The Commissioner declared that the majority, indeed all the delegations, support the principles underpinning this regulation and the Hong Kong Convention. Everyone wants to speed up international solutions. He concluded from this that there are still a number of issues to examine, such as the speeding up of ratification of the Hong Kong Convention, which is the objective, but linking a regulation to it would postpone the problem to kingdom come. He said it is necessary to send a clear message, transparency, in order to guarantee the feasibility and effectiveness of recycling facilities. He said there was nothing worse than the current situation. The Commissioner pointed out to member states that wanted flexibility on sanctions and public legal access that precise provisions at European level are indispensable if distortions to competition are to be avoided. He indicated that it would be incoherent to want everyone on an equal footing at a global level if there is no homogenous approach in the EU, adding that the Commission was prepared to co-operate so that effective solutions are put into place for overcoming the currently unacceptable problems. (AN/transl.fl)