The European Commission has published technical guidance for ship recycling facilities seeking approval under EU Ship Recycling Regulation. The document provides clarifications in accordance with the relevant Hong Kong Convention provisions and taking into account the relevant guidelines of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Labour Standards (ILO) and of the Basel Convention.
The purpose of this Technical guidance note is to clarify certain aspects of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 (‘the Regulation’), which entered into force on 30 December 2013. This note has been adopted by the European Commission, following discussions with Member States and stakeholders.
Article 15(4)§3 of the Regulation provides that the European Commission ‘may issue technical guidance notes in order to facilitate [the] certification’ of ship recycling facilities located in a third country, with a view to their application for inclusion on the European List of ship recycling facilities (‘the European List’).
The document clarifies the following elements mentioned or referred to in Article 15(4):
- the object of the certification, i.e. the design, construction, operational, management, monitoring and administrative requirements to be met by the facilities,
- the status and qualifications of the certifying entity (the ‘independent verifier’),
- the procedure for inspection of facilities and later verifications,
- the modalities of submission of the application to the European List to the European Commission.
The document provides clarifications in accordance with the relevant Hong Kong Convention provisions and taking into account the relevant guidelines of the IMO, the ILO and of the Basel Convention. However, while most of the requirements in the Regulation stem from the Hong Kong Convention, a few requirements are new and require clarification not necessarily found in IMO and other existing guidelines.
Further details may be found by reading EU Technical Guidance for Ship Recycling Facilities herebelow
Source: eur-lex.europa.eu
