Business Times 4 Jun 08;
(LUXEMBOURG) The European Union's (EU) highest court has upheld an EU law that makes maritime pollution a crime, increasing pressure on shipping companies to control waste and avoid spills and other accidents.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg yesterday rejected arguments by the shipping groups that the EU legislation is invalid in light of international law covering use of the sea.
The EU law on 'ship-source pollution which provides for penalties in the event, in particular, of accidental discharges remains valid', a 13-judge panel of the court ruled. Shipping companies face a greater risk of being held criminally liable for polluting under the EU rule, even for accidents caused by foul weather, according to industry groups.
The EU law was introduced partly in response to oil spills caused by the sinking of tankers off Spain's northwest coast in 2002 and France's Atlantic coast in 1999. Groups such as Intertanko, representing about 80 per cent of the world's tanker fleet, and Lloyd's Register Group had asked the court to review the 2005 legislation. They told the court at a hearing in September that the law would be a 'recipe for chaos' because it creates a lower liability threshold.
The law requires the EU to implement 'effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties' for ship pollution. The policy is needed because international maritime standards are regularly ignored, the European Commission, the EU's executive agency, told the court last year.
The shipping groups argued that the law was trumped by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, known as Marpol, and by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The 27-nation EU isn't part of Marpol and the UN convention doesn't directly apply to individuals, so neither of the international laws can be used to supersede the EU rule, the court said\. \-- Bloomberg
