EU CO2 monitoring and the commercially sensitive cargo information
BIMCO has repeatedly voiced concerns over the European Commission's proposal for regulating CO2 emissions from ships, which requires reporting of information about cargo that is commercially sensitive. Informally agreed last week, the EC Regulation on monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) creates a unilateral European MRV system that will become operational as of 2018, applying to ships above 5,000 GT arriving and/or departing from EU ports. The system is claimed to be neutral regarding flag and ownership BIMCO believes that the EU MRV system will create additional red tape for shipping without any positive impact on the environment and may well negatively affect the prospect of an international agreement on the issue in IMO. Apart from reporting data on CO2 emissions and distance sailed, the Regulation will require ships to report cargo-related information, which BIMCO believes will create problems related to data reliability, confidentiality, reporting responsibilities and obligations. Lars Robert Pedersen, Deputy Secretary General at BIMCO, said: "We view the EU MRV Regulation as unhelpful in terms of reaching an international agreement on the crucial issue of CO2 monitoring. "We also find it hard to see how the cargo data required from ships will be of value as it relates ...
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