COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accelerated phasing-in of double hull or equivalent design requirements for single hull oil tankers and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2978/94

2000/0067 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accelerated phasing-in of double hull or equivalent design requirements for single hull oil tankers and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2978/94

1. Background

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council (document COM(2000)142 final - 2000/0067 COD): 22.03.2000

Date of the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee: 19.10.2000

Date of the opinion of the Committee of Regions: 21.09.2000

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 30.11.2000

Date of transmission of the amended proposal (COM(2000)848 final): 13.12.2000

Date of adoption of the common position: 07.08.2001

2. Objective of the Commission proposal

The initially proposed measure seeks to bring forward the dates of phasing out single hull oil tankers from those in the MARPOL 73/78 convention [1] to be equivalent to those of OPA 90 [2] of the United States. It also extends the scope of the MARPOL rules to smaller ships, which are currently outside the scope of MARPOL.

[1] International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto together with the amendments thereto.

[2] Oil Pollution Act, 1990.

More specifically the Commission in its initial proposal presented a Regulation that:

- establishes an accelerated phasing-in scheme for the application of double-hull or equivalent design requirements in comparison with the MARPOL 73/78 Convention;

- establishes a system of financial incentives to support the scheme, based on differential charging of port and pilotage dues;

- repeals Regulation (EC) No 2978/94 application of tonnage measurement of ballast spaces in segregated ballast oil tankers;

- applies to oil tankers of 600 tonnes deadweight (tdwt) and above;

- applies to oil tankers flying the flag of Member States;

- applies to oil tankers entering a port or the internal waters of a Member State, irrespective of their flag.

The Commission's amended proposal followed the opinion of the Parliament closely, and amended the Regulation in the following way by:

- replacing the initial phasing-out scheme, with the gradual phasing-out scheme for single-hull oil-tankers according to the draft timetable proposed by the International Maritime Organisation's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) 45th meeting;

- grouping category 3 and 4 tankers into one group, labelled category 3, and increasing the lower size limit for these tankers from 600 tdwt to 3.000 tdwt;

- deleting the system of financial incentives to support the scheme, based on differential charging of port and pilotage dues;

- introducing the requirement for Category 1 and 2 tankers that they may operate beyond 2005 and 2010 until the final phase-out date, only subject to compliance with a Condition Assessment Scheme, for which criteria are stated in new Annex I;

- allowing a category 1 tankers to operate longer than 25 years until the final phase-out date, only provided it has wing tanks or double bottom spaces not used for the carriage of oil or operate with hydro-statically balanced loading.

3. Comments on the Common Position

3.1. General observations on the common position

The opinion in first reading of the Parliament and the Commission's amended proposal aimed at incorporating the substance of the draft new regulation 13G of MARPOL Annex I, into this Regulation. This was done with the understanding that if necessary, the text of the present Regulation would change according to the text of MARPOL 73/78 regulation 13G and the Condition Assessment as finally adopted by the 46th meeting of the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) (23-27 April 2001). The condition was however, as clearly stated by the Transport Council on 20 December 2000, that the agreement reached at IMO would be acceptable to the EU Member States. This strategy was furthermore also clearly expressed in the Parliaments amendment n° 12. The Council conclusions furthermore emphasised the importance of the final phase-out dates. This was the mandate with which the EU Member States who were present at the IMO MEPC 46 negotiated the final text.

On behalf of the EU Member States, that are also all Parties to the MARPOL convention, the Swedish Presidency furthermore declared at the closing session of the MEPC 46, that the EU Member States found the text acceptable and that they would "make use of paragraph (8b) of the revised regulation 13G of MARPOL Annex I to deny entry of oil tankers referred to in paragraph (5) of the same regulation into the ports or offshore terminals located in the Community beyond the anniversary date of such tankers in 2015 in full respect of the conditions laid down in paragraph 8(b)" [3].

[3] Report of the marine Environment Protection Committee on its forty-sixth session MEPC 46/23, p. 22, paragraph 2.62.

The Council's Common Position therefore reflects the outcome of MEPC 46, in particular Resolution MEPC.95(46) with "amendments to regulation 13G of Annex I to MARPOL 73/78 and to the Supplement to the IOPP Certificate" and Resolution MEPC.94(46) titled "Condition Assessment Scheme", both adopted on 27 April 2001. The Commission accepts the Common Position, as it duly reflects the new international regime as laid down in MARPOL 73/78.

3.2. Specific observations

The Commission notes that a number of changes to the recitals have been introduced, and that these correctly reflect the new international context, in which this Regulation now must be seen. The changed structure and new phase-out dates of Article 4, and the relevant definitions (Article 3), also corresponds to the wording of revised Regulation 13 of Annex I to MARPOL, which adds to the clarity of the text.

A number of editorial changes have furthermore been introduced by the Council to ensure strict direct application of the Regulation. For the same purpose the article on implementation (ex-article 9) has been deleted. The Commission accepts these changes, in particular as the Regulation was initially intended to be directly applicable, and since the substance of ex-article 9 is retained by including the notification requirements in the article on exemptions allowed by the Member States (Article 8). This is furthermore in line with simplification of legislation.

The Commission furthermore accepts the lower size limit of 5.000 tdwt (Article 2), as this now reflects the international agreement.

The Council furthermore proposes the exclude certain specific ships not used for commercial services, such as warships and naval auxiliary (Article 2). The Commission agrees with this amendment since:

- it fully corresponds to the application of MARPOL Article 3.3, and that therefore the new revised Regulation 13 G of Annex I to MARPOL does not apply to such ships on an international level;

- it is fully in line with the precedent set by a recently adopted Parliament and Council Directive in the field of Maritime transport [4].

[4] OJ L 332 of 28.12.2000 p.81. Directive 2000/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2000 on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues.

The Commission in particular welcomes that the Regulation has been strengthened to ensure that EU Member States engage themselves to also strictly adhere to the revised Regulation 13G for ships flying their own flag (Articles 4, 5, 7).

The Commission also welcomes that the principle of denying entry into EU ports of Category 2 and 3 tankers after 2015, has been clearly spelled out in an article in this Regulation (Article 7).

The Commission accepts the approach by the Council of making the use of the Condition Assessment Scheme (CAS) binding through specific articles (Articles 5, 6), and notes the importance of a specific reference to the amendment procedure in relation to the CAS (Article 11).

The Commission agrees with the possibility for the Member States to make derogation from the Regulation for oil tankers in distress and/or needing repair, provided that the strict conditions are fulfilled and that the implementing measures are duly communicated to the Commission (Article 8).

The notification procedures (Article 9) follow the requirements of revised Regulation 13G of Annex I to MARPOL, and precedent set by previous Community legislation in relation to notification of the adoption of Community measures to IMO [5].

[5] OJ L 034 of 9.2.1998 p.1. Council Directive 97/70/EC of 11 December 1997 setting up harmonised regime for fishing vessels of 24 metres in length and over.

The Commission finally agrees with the postponement of the repeal of Council Regulation (EC) N° 2978/94 (Article 12), until the end of 2007, to ensure that some financial dis-incentives to operate single-hull tankers remain, at least until the final date when Category 1 tankers are allowed to enter ports and offshore terminals under the jurisdiction of the Member States. The Commission however notes that it may be necessary to make minor amendments to said Regulation through the Comitology, in the view of modification made to international instruments, mainly MARPOL 73/78 Annex I. The Commission also accepts the change to the title of the Regulation to incorporate the repeal of said Regulation.

4. Conclusions

The Commission accepts the Common Position as it is in line with the broad content of the Commission's initial proposal and reflects the international agreement as adopted by IMO MEPC 46 on 23-27 April 2001, that will on a global level lead to the acceleration of the phasing-out of single-hull oil tankers, and hence reduce the risk of accidental oil pollution due to grounding or collision, not just in European waters, but world wide.