EU co-legislators have preliminarily agreed to update EU rules on preventing pollution from ships in European seas and ensure that violators face fines.
On Thursday, Parliament and Council negotiators reached an informal agreement to extend the existing ban on the discharge of oil spills from ships to sewage and waste.
Ban more types of spills from ships
According to the agreement, the current list of substances prohibited for discharge from ships, such as hydrocarbons and noxious liquid substances, will now include the discharge of sewage, waste and residues from scrubbers.
MEPs succeeded in securing an obligation for the EU to review the rules five years after their transposition into national law to assess whether marine plastic litter, loss of containers and spills of plastic pellets from ships should also be subject to sanctions.
More robust verification
MEPs assured that EU countries and the Commission would communicate more on pollution incidents, best practices to combat pollution and follow-up measures, following alerts issued by the European satellite system for detection Oil Spills and Ships, CleanSeaNet. To prevent illegal discharges from spreading and therefore becoming undetectable, the agreed text provides for digital monitoring of all high-confidence CleanSeaNet alerts and aims to verify at least 25% of them by the competent national authorities.
Effective sanctions
EU countries will need to introduce effective and dissuasive fines for vessels that break these rules, while criminal sanctions have been addressed in separate legislation. MEPs already agree with EU governments. last November. According to a preliminary agreement, EU countries should not set sanctions so low that this would not guarantee their dissuasive effect.
Citation
EP rapporteur Marian-Jean Marinescu (EPP, Romania) said: “Ensuring the health of our seas requires not only legislation, but also rigorous enforcement. Member States must not fail in their duty to safeguard our marine environment. We need a concentrated effort, using advanced technologies such as satellite monitoring and on-site inspections, to effectively eliminate illegal discharges. Sanctions must reflect the seriousness of these offenses and have a real deterrent effect. Our commitment is clear: cleaner seas, stricter accountability and a sustainable maritime future for all.
Next steps
The preliminary agreement still needs to be approved by the Council and Parliament. EU countries will have 30 months to transpose the new rules into their national law and prepare for their implementation.
Background
The agreement on the revision of the Ship Pollution Directive is part of the Maritime Safety Package presented by the Commission in June 2023. The package aims to modernize and strengthen EU maritime rules on safety and security. pollution prevention.
Originally published in The European Times.
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