Brussels, 11/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the Commission is to adopt a proposal of regulation banning the application of organotin compounds on Member State ships from 1 January 2003 and on all ships entering a Community port, irrespective of their flag, from 1 January 2008. The aim of this measure is to reduce the adverse environmental effects of anti-fouling paints on ships and of paints based on organic compounds such as tributyltin (TBT). The Commission also hopes to encourage Member States to ratify the AFS Convention (the international convention on the control of harmful anti-fouling substances used on ships, adopted on 5 October 2001).
The regulation will not apply to warships or to ships belonging to the States unless the latter use them for commercial purposes. The Member States will be authorised to set in place a control and certification system. Only vessels of a gross tonnage of 400 should be the subject of controls. The others only require a certificate of conformity. Leisure craft and fishing boats are to be neither controlled nor certified. If the AFS Convention has not come into effect on 1 January 2007, the Commission should be able to take measures to verify the conformity of third country boats.
The AFS Convention bans the application of organotin compounds from 1 January 2003 and demands that, from 1 January 2008, either these compounds no longer be present on the ships or that the ships are coated in a product that prevents the compounds from escaping from anti-fouling systems.