• Action On Shipping Pollution Is Legal

    The EU is allowed to punish ship owners whose ships cause ‘intentional, reckless or seriously negligent’ pollution in EU waters, according to a preliminary opinion from the European Court of Justice.

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    [mailchimp_signup][/mailchimp_signup]A group of shipping industry trade associations, among them the international oil tankers association Intertanko, had launched a legal challenge to the 2005 EU directive on ship pollution, saying it breaks rules set out in the 1973 Marpol Convention and affects shipping’s ‘right of innocent passage’. But the ECJ’s advocate general Juliane Kokott said the directive’s wording does not go beyond international law. The ECJ’s full ruling comes next year, but it seldom differs from preliminary opinions.

    • The secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation Efthimios Mitropoulos said he wants the IMO to speed up work to develop a global climate policy for the shipping sector. The IMO’s slow progress on climate issues has caused the Commission to threaten unilateral EU action on ship emissions.

    This news story is taken from the December 2007 edition of T&E Bulletin.