Technical progress has been made on February’s proposal to amend the EU MRV Regulation (monitoring, reporting, verification of maritime transport emissions) to bring it into line with the global system for collecting data on ships' fuel consumption adopted by the International Maritime Organisation in 2016 (see EUROPE 12189/25), but the incoming Finnish Presidency will have to take over responsibility for it.
On Wednesday, 26 June, at the Environment Council meeting in Luxembourg, Romania’s Environment Minister, Gratiela Leocadia Gavrilescu, said that the major issue that still needs to be resolved is the extent to which it should be aligned with the global system.
Greece, Malta and Cyprus have indicated that they would prefer full alignment, particularly in order to maintain the sector’s competitiveness.
Cyprus is of the opinion that “the right solution would be to merge the two systems”. In the opinion of the Greek delegation, the proposal on the table is incompatible with the principles of 'better regulation', as it only harmonises certain parameters. The Greek representative stated that “carbon emission data must be authenticated, which is not done at the international level”.
Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete explained that full alignment would undermine the objectives of the EU MRV Regulation in terms of transparency, aggregated data, and verification rules. “It's about alignment, but on some points we need to protect environmental sustainability”, he said. The proposal that has been tabled aims to reduce the bureaucratic burden for commercial enterprises and maritime authorities without weakening the EU Regulation. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)