The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has opened a consultation into its proposals for designating responsibility for the enforcement of ship recycling regulations.
The Government’s draft regulations are to support the EU Ship Recycling Regulation and ensure there are appropriate sanctions and enforcement powers on ships which fail to comply with the EU Regulation.
ex-HMS Endurance was completely recycled on the 29 August 2016 by LEYAL Ship Recycling of Turkey
The main requirements in the EU Regulation, which comes into force at the end of 2017 are:
- Publication of a list of approved ship recycling facilities which have been inspected and meet the required standard in the EU Regulation.
- Once in effect, the installation of new hazardous materials on ships will be restricted or prohibited.
- Once there is sufficient capacity on the European list: New European flagged ships will need to carry a certified inventory of hazardous materials; and all EU flagged ships must be recycled at a facility on the approved list of ship recycling facilities, according to its bespoke ship recycling plan.
- By 31 December 2020: Existing EU flagged ships will also need to carry a certified inventory of hazardous materials; and Non-EU flagged ships will need to carry an inventory of hazardous material and a statement of compliance, when calling at a member State port.
- EU flagged ships must get their inventory of hazardous materials certified every 5 years (and again before the ship is recycled) by the EU flag State.
Requirements
According to the consultation document, the requirements in the Waste Shipment Regulations have proved to be ‘ill-suited’ to addressing the issues raised by ship recycling, difficult for member States to enforce and have failed -with the exception of a handful of yards -to improve the safety and environmental standards of ship recycling facilities in Asia.
It is noted, as 95 per cent of ship recycling takes place in Asia, there is insufficient capacity within the OECD to recycle all ships flagged to EU member States.
The Agency said, as a consequence, many vessels circumvent the current legislation and end up on beaches where they are dismantled in conditions which offer little protection to human health or to the environment.
EU regulation
As the EU Regulation has direct application, the purpose of the UK Regulations being consulted on is to support the EU Regulation by assigning responsibilities in respect of the UK for functions under the EU Regulation and prescribing how the requirements of the EU Regulation will be enforced in the UK. These include allowing the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to charge a fee for surveys and certificates and imposing criminal offences for contravening the EU Regulation.
The EU Regulation is based on the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. The purpose of the Hong Kong Convention is to address the concerns about safety, health, and environmental damage and welfare matters in the ship recycling industry, by regulating the whole lifecycle of the vessel.
The consultation will run until 15 September 2017.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Metal
