29. 6. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 159/19 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision establishing a Community information 
system for preventing and combatting hydrocarbon pollution of the sea 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the 
European Communities No C 200 of 6 August 1980, page 2. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 11 July 1980 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic 
and Social Committee in accordance with Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
186th plenary session held in Brussels on 25 and 26 March 1981. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community, and in particular 
Article 198 thereof, 
Having regard to the request, dated 11 July 1980, 
from the Council of the European Communities for 
an opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision 
establishing a Community information system for 
preventing and combatting hydrocarbon pollution of 
the sea (*), 
Having regard to the Rules of Procedure of the 
Economic and Social Committee and in particular 
Articles 22, 46 and 47 thereof, 
Having regard to the decision taken by the Chairman 
on 10 September 1980 and subsequently confirmed 
by the Bureau on 23 September 1980, instructing the 
Section for the Protection of the Environment, Public 
Health and Consumer Affairs to prepare an opinion 
on the matter, 
Having regard to the report made by the Rapporteur, 
Mr Doble, 
Having regard to the opinion issued by the Section 
for the Protection of the Environment, Public Health 
and Consumer Affairs at its meeting on 3 February 
1981, 
Having regard to the discussions on 25 March 1981 
during the 186th plenary session held on 25 and 
26 March 1981; Whereas the Action Programme (2) of June 1978 of 
the European Communities on the control and 
reduction of pollution caused by hydrocarbons 
discharged at sea foresees, among other matters, 
computer-processing of suitable data on ways of 
dealing with marine pollution by hydrocarbons and 
the making available of relevant material, including 
information on tankers liable to pollute the coasts of 
Member States; 
Whereas the proposal for a Council Decision 
establishing a Community information system for 
preventing and combatting hydrocarbon pollution of 
the sea (') sets up one of the instruments necessary to 
meet the objectives of this Action Programme and 
will make available useful data in the event of 
accidents of pollution of the sea; 
Whereas it is desirable that this instrument be 
brought quickly into force and that the Commission 
continue to create the other instruments necessary, as 
set out in the Action Programme; 
Whereas the Commission's proposal for a Council 
Directive concerning the enforcement, in respect of 
shipping using Community ports, of international 
standards for shipping safety and pollution 
prevention (3), is designed to reduce the risk of ships 
using Community seas or ports being involved in 
accidents which may result in oil spills and 
consequent pollution. 
(') OJ No C 200, 6. 8. 1980. (2) OJ No C 162, 8. 7. 1978. 
(3) OJ No C 192, 30. 7. 1980. 
No C 159/20 Official Journal of the European Communities 29. 6. 81 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
unanimously: 
1. Introduction 
1.1. Combatting oil pollution of the sea requires a 
variety of measures. All of them have severe 
limitations and are only effective within a narrow 
range of weather conditions and in dealing with a 
limited range of hydrocarbons which may be spilled. 
The measures are likely to be more effective when 
coordinated at Community level or even on a wider 
international scale. 
1.2. The Committee welcomes the fact that the 
Commission has submitted to the Council a 
communication concerning a plan to combat oil 
pollution of the sea. This communication contains 
several elements which will assist in combatting oil 
pollution of the sea and, in particular: 
— a Community information system (Decision 
currently proposed), 
— a proposal of the Commission to indicate 
equipment specifications which will be best suited 
to meet the problems of mitigating the aspects of 
oil pollution of the sea, 
— a Commission proposal on the methodology to be 
followed in drawing up contingency 
programmes, 
— Community support for pilot schemes in this 
field. 
1.3. The Community information system covered in 
the Decision currently proposed concerns three quite 
separate subjects, namely: 
(1) information on staff and equipment, both 
mechanical and chemical, available in the 
Member States, 
(2) a compendium of the properties of 
hydrocarbons, etc. liable to cause sea pollution, 
and 
(3) a tanker file containing information on the 
characteristics of tankers, ownerships and a note 
of any infringements committed wherever they 
may have operated. 
1.4. The Committee is required to give its opinion 
only on the present proposal for a Decision on a Community information system. However, there are 
many other measures which the Community should 
undertake to combat hydrocarbon pollution of the 
sea and these measures are described in more detail 
in the Section's current report. Many of these 
measures should, in the Commitee's opinion be given 
high priority and made the subject of early action by 
the Commission. 
2. General Remarks 
2.1. The Committee stresses the need for more 
cooperation and coordination with third countries, 
in particular with the USA and Japan and with 
Mediterranean countries such as Yugoslavia. There 
is also a need for cooperation and coordination with 
existing organizations such as the Bonn Agreement, 
which includes the Member States as well as other 
North Sea countries. It is important that there should 
not be another organization overlapping and 
drawing resources from existing effective 
organizations. It is also important that information 
which has been assembled by non-member States or 
by organizations such as IMCO, ILO and under the 
Bonn and the Hague Agreements is made generally 
available. 
2.2. The Commission presents its information 
system, and especially its tanker file (point 3 (c) of 
the communication), as an instrument to assist 
competent authorities in their measures to combat a 
major oil accident. The Committee believes that this 
information system can and should also be 
considered as an important instrument enabling the 
prevention of tankers with known records of 
infringement from entering the ports, or even 
approaching coasts, of Member States until their 
satifactory condition has been ensured. In this 
respect the proposed Council Decision will augment 
and be complementary to the proposed Council 
Directive concerning the enforcement, in respect of 
shipping using Community ports, of international 
standards for shipping safety and pollution 
prevention (Doc. COM (80) 360 final). 
2.3. The information needed to complete the first 
two inventories on staff equipment and on the nature 
of hydrocarbons appears to be relatively easy to 
collect. But the Committee is worried about the 
accuracy of information to enter the tanker file 
because of the big number of ships not flying a 
Member-State flag. Therefore the Committee 
welcomes the accession of Greece, a country with one 
of the largest tanker fleets in the world. The 
29. 6. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 159/21 
Commission should also take steps to obtain 
information about tankers owned by or flying the 
flag of non-member States by reference to other 
information files which exist both in Japan and the 
USA. The possibility of obtaining an exchange of this 
information on an international basis requires 
investigation. 
2.4. Furthermore, the Committee wonders whether 
this information system should not also be applied to 
undersea pipelines and to drilling platforms. These 
are both possible sources of marine oil pollution, and 
the fact that information about them is more easily 
available is no reason for not including them in the 
Community information system. Pipelines between 
land and sea where damage can cause estuarial 
pollution should also be included. 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. Accidents which have already occurred in 
coastal waters of Member States have demonstrated 
the value of and need for an information system and 
this should be set up as quickly as possible. It will 
always be useful to have an updated and permanent 
inventory of available resources which can be called 
upon in the event of an oil spill. 
3.2. Article 1 proposes a wide ranging inventory. 
This information should be related to a compendium 
of contingency plans for specific sea and coastal 
areas of Member States. 
(a) The number and qualifications of specialist staff 
available will vary according to the severity of 
the incident, which would alter the priorities of 
other duties in which these staff are normally 
engaged. Nevertheless up-to-date information 
concerning key contacts would enable 
responsible authorities to make the necessary 
arrangements with the maximum of speed. 
(b) The mechanical means for dealing with oil at sea 
and coastal pollution could include the number 
of equipments of each special type dedicated to 
oil pollution, but for more general equipment 
such as gulley emptiers, tractors, tipper lorries, 
etc., it whould be too difficult to keep numbers 
updated, and the compendium should quote 
only the types which are available. It is 
important that equipment which has been 
superseded by better apparatus or has been 
made obsolete as a result of experience should 
be identified as such in the information data, as 
much of the original equipment used has now 
been discarded as not fully effective. (c) The chemical means of combatting pollution at 
sea and cleaning up coasts will be largely by 
dispersants. Figures of stock levels would need 
frequent updating, but this would not be the 
only factor, since they are dependent on the 
availability of replacements, a good potential 
supply leading to lower stock levels. 
This inventory needs to be divided into coastline 
regions of, perhaps, 150 km in length, since 
speed of response would be an essential part of 
the information. 
3.3. Although dispersants of very low toxicity have 
now been developed, potential problems exist as to 
when and where such dispersants can be used 
without danger to marine life. It would be most 
helpful if the information could distinguish between 
coastal waters where dispersants can be used freely 
and those where more expert advice should first be 
obtained. 
3.4. Both Article 1 and Article 5 should include 
more strict rules and time tables both for the supply 
of the original information to the Commission and 
also for the subsequent up-dating. The wording used 
in Annexes I, II and III for the respective 
information to be 'regularly up-dated' does not 
appear to be sufficiently precise if Member States are 
to be able to rely on the data accuracy. The 
Committee suggests, therefore, that the Annexes 
should be up-dated by information supplied by the 
competent authorities in Member States at least every 
six months and that the latter should inform the 
Commission, each time a change occurs. 
3.5. In particular, the Committee feels strongly that 
before information is placed on the data files all the 
authorities, owners and other persons concerned who 
might be adversely affected should the information 
not be correct, should be given an opportunity to 
check and agree the files, particularly as regards the 
information about their ships so that any inaccurate 
information can be corrected before it is passed on to 
Member States and other persons concerned. 
3.6. The Committee proposes adding to point 1 of 
Annex III (Contents) an indent worded as follows: 
'— To identify the company (companies) with 
which the tanker and its cargo are insured'. 
In addition to having information on the 
international maritime conventions to which tankers 
are subject, it is essential to be able to contact a 
vessel's insurers direct in the event of an accident. 
No C 159/22 Official Journal of the European Communities 29. 6. 81 
4. Conclusions 
4.1. In the Commission's Introduction to the draft 
Decision (page 3) reference ist made to the need for 
Member States to draw up contingency plans to deal 
with large scale oil pollution and it is proposed by the 
Commission that guidance should be issued on the 
form and content of these contingency plans. It is 
also mentioned that all the various measures which 
the Commission has suggested must be backed up by 
financial support so that the necessary initiatives can 
be taken by those responsible. The Committee is 
impressed by the action which is already being 
undertaken in some Member States to combat oil 
pollution in their coastal waters and has observed the 
research and experiments now going on to develop 
new processes and equipment which may be more 
effective than some of those used in the past when 
accidents have occurred without prior warning. 
The Committee would therefore like to stress how 
important it is that there should be adequate financial 
budgetary arrangements not only in 1981 but in 
subsequent years. 
4.2. The Committee notes that the Commission has 
set up an Advisory Committee of government experts 
and Commission representatives with the intention 
that this Committee should become a forum where 
experts can meet for the purpose of pooling 
experience. It is hoped that this Committee will work 
in such a way as to ensure the updating and reliability 
of data contained in the Community information 
system. It is envisaged that the Advisory Committee 
will help the Commission on initiatives which are 
required and deal with the problems of oil pollution. 
Nevertheless, it is very important that great care is 
taken to avoid duplication with the work and 
information contained in the Bonn Agreement and 
the Barcelona Convention. 
Done at Brussels, 25 March 1981. 4.3. Whilst this draft Decision (!) is only concerned 
with the setting up of a new and obligatory 
information service, the Committee would like to 
stress the importance of early action in other 
elements of the total action plan against oil pollution 
of the sea. Many other elements are seen to be even 
more important than a central and reliable 
information system. The Committee welcomes 
therefore the companion draft Directive concerning 
the enforcement, in respect of shipping using 
Community ports, of international standards for 
shipping safety and pollution prevention (2). 
'Prevention' is always much better than 'cure' and the 
Committee sees it as a joint and integrated operation 
to secure both a proper standard for ships and their 
crews, and a proper traffic discipline for ships using 
international routes and waters, such as can 
adequately be policed and enforced with penalties, 
which should be sufficient, particularly in cases of 
deliberate non-compliance, and therefore higher 
than the gain derived from non-compliance. But even 
after those two regulations there remains a wide 
range of measures which need to be taken at 
Community level to mitigate the worst effects of oil 
pollution when accidents of disasters occur. The two 
proposals which the Commission has introduced at 
the present time should be considered as the first 
steps towards the rapid production of a complete and 
fully integrated plan which will deal with all the 
various problems which are associated with oil 
pollution arising from the transport of hydrocarbons 
by sea from 'source' to 'consumers'. 
4.4. The Committee notes that new accidents are 
foreseeable. It therefore urges the Commission to 
speed up its preparatory work in respect of all the 
other measures to be taken under the overall plan for 
combatting oil pollution of the sea. The Committee 
asks to be consulted on each of the Commission's 
proposals in this field. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Tomas ROSEINGRAVE 
(') OJ No C 200, 6. 8. 1980. 
(2) OJ No C 192, 30. 7. 1980.