Exiting the European Union (Merchant Shipping) — House of Commons, 2020-11-10
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rachel Helen Maclean (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the draft Ship Recycling (Facilities and Requirements for Hazardous Materials on Ships) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, which were laid before this House on 15 October, be approved The United Kingdom has already introduced European Union exit legislation on ship recycling. Last year, we laid the Ship Recycling (Facilities and Requirements for Hazardous Materials on Ships) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to ensure that legislation in this area would remain legally operable once the UK had withdrawn from the EU. The agreement on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU includes a protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland to address the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland. A provision in article 5(4) of the protocol and annex 2 specify that certain provisions of EU law will apply in respect of Northern Ireland. The EU ship recycling regulation is one such provision listed in the protocol and, as a consequence, will have some effect on ship recycling facilities in Northern Ireland The EU ship recycling regulation transposed key parts of the Hong Kong convention on the recycling of ships into EU law. The provisions apply to ship recycling facilities in the EU and to EU flagged ships above 500 gross tonnes. The main provisions of the EU regulation have applied since 31 December 2018 and include rules about authorising and permitting ship recycling facilities, requirements needed for the EU to record a facility on its list of approved facilities—the European list—and a requirement that all EU flagged ships must be recycled at an approved ship recycling facility, according to a certified ship recycling plan The EU regulation also requires that all new EU flagged ships must carry a valid inventory of hazardous materials and that existing EU flagged ships and ships registered to non-EU countries calling at European ports must carry an inventory of hazardous materials by the end of 2020. Under the 2019 regulations, EU flagged ships would need to use an approved ship recycling facility on a United Kingdom list of approved facilities instead of the EU’s list. The 2019 regulations also ensure that necessary functions of the EU Commission are transferred to the Secretary of State The draft regulations will amend the 2019 regulations made under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which in turn amended the retained EU ship recycling regulation and the Ship Recycling Facilities Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, to make two substantive changes. First, the regulations amend provisions that affect ship recycling facilities in Northern Ireland to reflect our obligations under the Northern Ireland protocol. In particular, the regulations will "require the joint competent authority for ship recycling facilities in Northern Ireland to notify the Secretary of State of any change of circumstances" concerning their facilities. The Secretary of State must "notify the European Commission of any change of status regarding ship recycling facilities in Northern Ireland", and the regulations prevent ship recycling facilities in Northern Ireland that are not on the European Union list of approved facilities from recycling EU-flagged vessels. The impact of the protocol means that existing arrangements for those facilities will remain the same after the implementation phase.