Polski
Owners of vessels flying the flag of a European Union member state are legally obliged to dismantle them at the end of the vessel’s life at shipyards/factories certified to operate in accordance with EU health and environmental standards.
A draft law to update the list of existing ship recycling facilities is currently under consultation. You can submit your position to the European Commission by May 6, 2024. As the EC points out, the opinions will be posted on the European Commission ‘s website and will be taken into account in developing the final form of the initiative.
Ship recycling – European list of facilities
The original European list of ship recycling facilities was presented in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/23232, which has been subject to subsequent amendments and updates. As part of the ongoing work to refresh the list of existing ship recycling facilities, it is planned to remove 3 of the previously listed facilities, add 2 new ones, and make adjustments for 2 that were included in the list earlier.
As the consulted draft legislation envisages, restrictions on dismantling oil rigs will also be removed from the European list. However, shipyards will still be bound by a limit on the width of ships they can accept. With that said, the limit could be considered lifted upon review of the cooperation agreement with a neighboring ship recycling facility, also on the EU list.
Ship recycling facilities located in a Member State and in third countries
The consulted draft includes in an annex a list of EU and third countries where ship recycling facilities will be located. Listed here are: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, the UK, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Turkey and the US.
For facilities permitted to recycle ships in the aforementioned countries, the draft regulations indicate:
- recycling method;
- The type and size of ships that can be recycled;
- restrictions and conditions for the operation of a ship recycling facility, including hazardous waste;
- Information on the procedure for approval of the ship recycling plan by the competent authority;
- maximum annual recycling volume, calculated as the sum of the weight of ships expressed in LDT that can be recycled in a given year at this facility;
- The expiration date of inclusion in the list.
When will the new list of ship recycling facilities be in effect?
As the draft under review indicates, the implementing decision currently under consultation, which amends the previous one – (EU) 2016/2323 – establishing a European list of ship recycling facilities in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on ship recycling, will enter into force on the third day after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Implementing and delegated acts
Member states are primarily responsible for implementing and complying with EU law. However, in areas where uniform implementation conditions are required (taxation, agriculture, internal market, food safety and health, etc.), the European Commission (and in exceptional cases the Council) adopts an implementing act. Once European Union (EU) legislation is adopted, it may need to be updated in member states to take into account developments in a particular sector or to ensure proper implementation. The European Parliament and the Council may then authorize the EC to adopt delegated or implementing acts.
Before adopting an implementing act, the Commission usually has to consult a special advisory committee composed of representatives from all member states. Citizens and other stakeholders, as part of the program on more effective lawmaking, can submit their comments on the draft executive act. They can do so in the four weeks preceding the committee’s vote on whether to approve or reject the draft legislation in question.
