WRITTEN QUESTION E-2302/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(25 July 2002)

Subject: Continued dumping at sea of ship-generated waste and cargo residues as a result of minimum surveillance and inadequate prosecution of offenders

1. Does the Commission recall that, in its answer to my Written Question E-2246/01(1), it said that it was confident that, as from 2002, implementation of Directive 2000/59/EC(2) would lead to a sharp increase in the quantities of ship-generated waste delivered to European port reception facilities and to a sharp fall in the number of illegal discharges at sea?

2. What has been the impact on the implementation of this Directive of the fact that no more than a small proportion of those responsible for illegal discharges are caught in the act, since most discharges are carried out at night and, by the time an oil slick becomes visible, the ship involved is already over the horizon, the result of this being that, as far the Dutch part of the continental shelf in the North Sea is concerned, it was possible to establish who was responsible for such slicks only five times in four years?

3. Do most of the ships involved come from Russia and other third countries whose captains are reluctant to deliver waste because they continue to regard the dumping and discharge of waste at sea as a natural, cheap and innocuous custom?

4. Can the Commission confirm that, out of the 50 000 ships which berth in Dutch ports every year, only 400 are checked by the Netherlands coastguard and that only 7 of that number are fined, although, on the Dutch part of the continental shelf, some 400-500 ships discharge oil, ropes, timber, nets, plastic, batteries and, sometimes, even equipment such as photocopiers, with the result that not only are the seabed and the shore polluted but plastic and toxic substances also enter the food chain of birds and fish?

5. Can the Commission also confirm that the Netherlands carries out fewer checks than other EU Member States on the dumping of ship-generated waste and cargo residues at sea and also prosecutes fewer offenders, both because current national law does not provide for the levying of fines on foreign ship's captains for failure to complete their oil record books accurately and because there is just one officer of the law who is responsible for prosecution? What is the reason for this disparity compared with other Member States, and how can it brought to an end?

6. What supplementary measures for surveillance, legalisation and case-law from the individual Member States does the Commission feel is required in order to improve the collection of ship-generated waste so that the objectives referred to previously may actually be attained?

(1) OJ C 93 E, 18.4.2002, p. 86.

(2) OJ L 332, 28.12.2000, p. 81.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(18 September 2002)

The Commission shares the concerns of the Honourable Member about operational ship-source pollution in Community waters. The Commission has considered that measures, in addition to the international ones, are needed in order to stop the discharges of oil and other substances at sea.

For this reason, it made in 1998 a proposal for a Directive on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues(1). The Directive, which was adopted by the Parliament and the Council in November 2000(2), shall be implemented by the Member States by 28 December 2002 at the latest.

As explained in its reply to the Honourable Members written question E-2246/01, this Directive ensures the availability of adequate waste reception facilities in all Community ports and introduces an obligation on ships to deliver their waste ashore. The Directive also introduces an obligation for ships to notify the port of on-board quantities of wastes prior to arrival. This, coupled with port-based checks and appropriate sanctions, will greatly improve the possibilities to control compliance with the international rules. However, since the Directive has not yet been transposed into national law by the Member States the Commission does not at this stage dispose of concrete figures relating to numbers of inspection carried out by specific Member States for this purpose, or of the nationality of the ships involved in discharges.

Apart from Directive 2000/59/EC, a number of complementary measures have been taken to reduce illegal discharges from ships:

- The Directive establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system(3), requires Member States to exchange information on ships in respect of which there is proof or presumptive evidence of deliberate discharges of oil and to carry out any appropriate inspection on board such ships when they enter a Community port.

- The Commission in the aforementioned Directive on traffic monitoring, has also included an obligation for ships to provide information on spotted oil slicks and for authorities to take appropriate action. The Commission is currently also exploring other ways to set up a system for monitoring oil spills, including tracing oil based on surveillance and tracking.

- The setting up of the European Maritime Safety Agency will play an important role in this respect, in particular as regards ensuring a harmonised implementation of Community legislation and collecting and managing data relating to ship-source pollution.

- Finally, Decision 2850/2000/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2000, setting up a Community framework for co-operation in the field of accidental or deliberate marine pollution(4) will improve the exchange of information on the efficiency of the prosecution systems applied in the different Member States. It will also allow the development of joint initiatives such as workshops or training courses in order to improve the techniques for identifying contravening vessels. This will create synergies at Community level and should ultimately permit the implementation of dissuasive sanctions against the parties responsible for such criminal acts.

Furthermore, the Commission is finalising a Communication to Parliament and Council Towards a strategy to protect and conserve the marine environment (foreseen in the 6th Environmental Action Programme). In this context, proposals will be made and action will be initiated aimed at phasing out of illegal discharges by ships.

(1) OJ C 271, 31.8.1998.

(2) Directive 2000/59/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2000 on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues.

(3) Directive 2002/59/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system and repealing Council Directive 93/75/EEC, OJ L 208, 5.8.2002.

(4) OJ L 332, 28.12.2000.