Brussels, 05/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 5 March, the Council of the EU finalised its first reading position on the draft regulation which seeks to establish a monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) mechanism in the EU for CO2 emission from large ships. This will apply to vessels of over 5,000 gross registered tonnage using EU ports (see EUROPE 11220).
The official Council position was adopted without debate by qualified majority. Attention now turns to the European Parliament.
Greece, Malta and Cyprus, which did not back the political agreement reached in trialogue on 18 November of last year, voted against (see EUROPE 11200). Poland abstained. These four delegations put down statements to be entered in the Minutes. All would have preferred an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) sponsored MRV system. Cyprus believes that the requirement for owners of large vessels to publish information on the energy efficiency of the ships will distort competition and is concerned, from a commercial point of view, about the disclosure of sensitive operational information.
Conversely, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden underline, in a joint statement, that it is important for all sectors of activity to contribute to tackling climate change, that a European MRV system will feed into the drafting of international rules and that the system, as proposed, preserves the confidentiality of commercial and industrial information. There is provision for the regulation, once adopted, to be adjusted in the event of IMO agreement on a similar international mechanism. (Aminata Niang)