On Monday 20 October, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee adopted its position on the proposal for a Directive on the conservation and sustainable use of the marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
The report by Michal Wiezik (Renew Europe, Slovak), which aims to transpose the High Seas Treaty (‘Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction’, BBNJ) into EU law, was adopted in the European Parliament committee with 61 votes in favour, 15 against and 10 abstentions.
MEPs have introduced greater flexibility in the way measures relating to area-based management tools (in particular, marine protected areas) are submitted to the BBNJ secretariat, particularly in the event of an emergency. They have also increased transparency, by obliging Member States to publish the measures adopted, and improved the provisions relating to access to justice.
Parliament will vote on this text on 13 November.
Link to the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/j1u (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)