WRITTEN QUESTION E-0623/03

by Johanna Boogerd-Quaak (ELDR)and Dorette Corbey (PSE) to the Commission

(3 March 2003)

Subject: Compensation for the costs of cleaning up oil on the Zeeland and South Holland coast

The direct and indirect damage to the Zeeland and South Holland coast resulting from the disaster involving the Tricolor which occurred in December in the Dover Straits is considerable. The costs of cleaning up the oil (cost of hiring equipment and cleaning personnel, cost of removal of the oil) are estimated at EUR 1 million.

1. Does the Commission consider that the European directives in the area of environmental liability must also cover the maritime sector and shipping?

2. Does the Commission consider that the polluter can also be made liable for indirect damage resulting from the Tricolor disaster?

3. Is the Commission prepared to bear part of the costs incurred by the Netherlands coastal provinces as a result of the damage, where the costs cannot be recovered from the polluter, in this instance the owner of the Tricolor?

4. Does the Commission take the view that the Netherlands and Belgian authorities cooperated sufficiently with a view to preventing this environmental disaster?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(14 May 2003)

1. The Commission firmly believes that the maritime sector and shipping should be subject to appropriate liability regimes, be it at international level or at Community level.

The proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage(1) provides that when certain international conventions are applicable it is they which must apply and not the future Directive. The international conventions listed in the proposal for a Directive concern, inter alia, bunker oil pollution damage, as in this case.

When it adopted the abovementioned proposal, the Commission took into account not only the existing international legal framework but also the opinions it expressed when adopting the ERIKA II package (see the Communication on a second set of Community measures on maritime safety following the sinking of the oil tanker ERIKA(2), in which the Commission undertook to seek to obtain a review of the international agreements in force). At the same time, it was of the opinion that an attempt should first be made at the international level, since it would benefit the environment on a greater scale if an improved international (worldwide) legal framework were in place.

More recently, in its Communication on improving safety at sea in response to the Prestige accident(3), the Commission reiterated its concerns regarding oil pollution damage and expressed similar concerns in respect of other international conventions, including the Convention regulating civil liability for bunker oil pollution damage.

Amending the Convention on civil liability for bunker oil pollution damage would require necessary steps to be taken to that effect, by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Failing that, the Commission will consider whether it should not propose to take action at Community level.

It is to be noted that the Convention on civil liability for bunker oil pollution damage has not yet entered into force. Pending the entry into force of the Convention, the future Directive on environmental liability would apply to instances of environmental damage caused by bunker oil pollution.

2. The Commission is not in a position to answer this question in the abstract, particularly as the Honourable Members do not specify which types of indirect damage they are referring to. In any case, whether indirect damage is subject to compensation or not and, if it is, how it is determined by the applicable sets of rules and what approach is followed may vary from one State to the next and from one legal system to another. It should be noted, however, that as far as measures taken to prevent or minimise pollution damage are concerned, the costs associated with taking such preventive measures would have been eligible for compensation either under the international Convention on civil liability for bunker oil pollution damage or the future Directive on environmental liability, had they been in force at the relevant time.

3. Some of the Zeeland and South Holland municipalities affected by oil from the Tricolor fall within the area covered by the Single Programming Document for Community structural assistance under Objective 2 in the South region in the Netherlands (CCI 2000.NL.16.2.DO.003). Of course, this is only a relatively small part of the solution. Nonetheless, this programme includes measures which could enable environmental projects to be co-financed, which is something the management authority could usefully exploit if it considers it necessary.

As for the Solidarity Fund set up on 11 November 2002, the fact is that the disaster is of insufficient scale to qualify for payments from the Fund under the principal criterion (that damage must exceed 3 billion euros or 0,6 % of the gross national income (GNI) of the country concerned). The Netherlands could always apply for an exceptional payment from the Solidarity Fund, such payments being made in the event of disasters with a particularly serious impact on the economy of the region concerned. The Commission would then examine the application, though the total sum available to the Fund for exceptional assistance is unfortunately close to being fully spent.

4. As the Honourable Members know, responding to pollution incidents is primarily the responsibility of the Member States. The Commission's role is mainly to support cooperation among national competent authorities.

The Commission's European Response Centre was in contact with the Belgian, French and Dutch authorities following the Tricolor accident.

In this context, the only request for assistance the Commission has received came from the Belgian authorities concerning the cleaning of oiled birds.

(1) OJ C 151 E, 25.6.2002.

(2) COM(2000) 802 final.

(3) COM(2002) 681 final.