Policy update, September 2014
UK Chamber of Shipping issued it’s latest round-up of the biggest policy news and activity from the last month at the UK Chamber regarding carbon, minimum wage to seafarers, offshore employment, maritime security and others.
Carbon:
A meeting was held in the Chamber on 24 July with Maersk, Shell, BP and LR to discuss voluntary carbon reporting. This is something actively pursued by the Danish and Norwegian shipping associations (over 80% of their fleets participate in the scheme) in order both to improve efficiency and to demonstrate a proactive industry lead to unblock the lack of progress at the IMO that is only likely to encourage the imposition of an unhelpful EU only scheme.
The chamber will now discuss the idea further with the MCA/DfT and, given that their response is positive, will start to encourage UK members to participate. The first step would be for monthly data collection; that alone will help to identify those reporting schemes that are workable and useful and those that are not. Detailed analysis of data would follow at a later stage. Confidentiality will, however, be key.
EU Tender:
The chamber has joined a consortium being led by LR (UCL is also a member) bidding for an 18 month, 180,000Euro, EU study into the reporting and verification mechanisms to be used in the proposed EU Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of carbon emissions from shipping. The successful candidate will be announced in late September. The Chambers part will be about 16 to 20 days work spread over the full period of the study.
Review of application of national minimum wage to seafarers:
The Government has been prompted by the RMT Parliamentary Group to undertake a review of the application of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) to seafarers, with a particular focus on whether foreign seafarers employed on ferries operating out of the UK are being paid the NMW.
The review is being conducted by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) with input from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and DfT. They will be meeting stakeholder across the maritime industry, including employer bodies, recruitment agencies, employers and trade unions. A meeting with the UK Chamber is scheduled to take place on 21 August.
Offshore Employment Intermediaries:
At the time of writing, the publication of guidance by HMRC on the application of the regulations providing for national insurance contribution liability for offshore employment intermediaries to companies employing seafarers working in the offshore support sector in the North Sea had not yet been published. The guidance is expected to indicate that a vessel would need to be standing or stationed in water for a minimum of five days whilst being put to a relevant use to be classified as an offshore installation, thereby applying a less favourable National Insurance Contribution (NIC) regime to the employer of the seafarers on board.
Bribery Act 2010:
The International Maritime Group comprising the UK Chamber and four Government Departments that is examining the impact of the Bribery Act 2010 on the ability of UK shipping to operate overseas is continuing its work, following the workshop hosted by the UK Chamber on 12 May 2014. The group is principally considering the development of guidance specifically for ship operators and masters on the likelihood of prosecution for making facilitation payments and the factors that will reduce this likelihood.
The group is also looking at the possibility of collective action initiatives involving different industry stakeholders and consular services in parts of the world were low-level corruption faced by ships is endemic. The group is scheduled to hold its next meeting on 25 September.
Security update:
An introductory meeting was held with the new Deputy-Head of Maritime Security at DfT and the Secretary of the National Maritime Security Committee (Industry) to provide a chamber briefing and to discuss the NMSC agenda. Gavin Simmonds was joined by Tim Reardon to discuss proposed Home Office Exit Checks.
As Chairman of the NMSC (I), Gavin Simmonds attended a regular briefing and discussion with Petra Wilkinson, and her colleagues at DfT. They discussed current security threats, the MNSC agenda and membership of the three new working groups established by the new National Strategy for Maritime Security (NSMS).
A SAMI event held onboard HQS Wellington which reviewed cyber security developments in front of a City audience, as well as an FCO event hosted by Chatham House to discuss maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea with Ghanaian officials.
EU Ports Regulation
The EU Ports Regulation has been re-drafted by the EU Commission and will be re-launched by the Italian Presidency. A meeting was held on 24 July with DfT, UKMPG and BPA to review progress.
Source: UK Chamber of Shipping