Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Environment Agency
Letter to the Committee Specialist from
the Chief Executive, Environment Agency, 19 August 2004
Following the Committee's oral evidence session
on 21 July 2004, the Agency was asked to respond to the following
question from the chairman:
"Chairman: Let me just ask you, from
your experience of dealing with global environmental issues is
there some other parallel activity where an international agreement
has been concluded that works where everybody says, `We recognise
the problem and we all agree to play by the rules?'
We understood we agreed to consider this point
and provide a supplementary note to the Committee. We are grateful
for the opportunity to do so.
The attached note deals with the issues as requested
(Annex A). We have identified the Montreal Protocol as one of
the global Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) that provides
some of the elements of a useful model and we have suggested some
criteria for a successful agreement. The Committee could also
examine the role and strength of the various Compliance Committees
(such as for Montreal Protocol) that have been developed to deal
with the issues of complying with the requirements of these Conventions.
In addition the Agency wishes to emphasise that
the international system of waste control, the Basel Convention,
is by itself unlikely ever to be able to resolve the issue of
ensuring environmentally sound ship recycling at a global level.
Hence neither can the legislation we use to implement it—the
EU Waste Shipments Regulation.
However we do recognise there is a demonstrable
need to develop a global network of facilities able to handle
ship dismantling in an appropriate way in accordance with the
concept of environmentally sound management.
As a regulator, we encourage the Committee to
consider the way forward, internationally must be found through
the combination of the relevant UN bodies (IMO, ILO, Basel) acting
together and for the UK to take an active role in that process.
Baroness Young
Chief Executive, Environment Agency
August 2004
Annex A
SHIP RECYCLING AND EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL
AGREEMENTS
BASEL CONVENTION
IS "FIT
FOR PURPOSE"
1. The UNEP Basel Convention itself is effective,
in that it is capable of being implemented by Parties to the Convention
to deliver the objectives of the Convention, for its intended
purpose. The Convention does provide an international framework
for the control of hazardous and other wastes where they are moving
transboundary from a state of origin to a state of destination.
The principles of prior informed consent, self-sufficiency, priority
for recovery and proximity (where applicable) are given force
in the EU by the Waste Framework Directive and the EU Waste Shipments
Regulation. These in combination provide for the system of documentary
control that the Basel Convention requires. They provide for Member
States of the EU to put in place plans and policies for the management
of waste according to national priorities; for example the UK
Management Plan for Exports and Imports of Waste.
BARRIERS TO
EFFECTIVE CONTROL
OF SHIP
RECYCLING
2. It may be argued however, that the Basel
Convention was not originally intended to cover ship recycling
and experience has shown it to be extremely problematic to apply
such controls effectively and enforceably.
3. The Basel Convention is less able to
deal with ships as waste for the reasons outlined in the Agency's
written and oral evidence to the Committee. European case law
and discussions within the international bodies, the Basel Convention
and the IMO, help us to define the circumstances and the point
in time at which a ship becomes waste in law (even though it may
still be a functioning ship).
4. The main weakness of the control system
for a waste ship is the absence of an established, definitive
enforceable location for the point of arising for the ship as
waste within a state. This is needed so that the state may be
readily identified as the state of dispatch for the purpose of
the Waste Shipments Regulation and to initiate the supervisory
aspects of the control system. For a (waste) ship sailing in international
waters no competent authority of "dispatch" can yet
be defined, with the appropriate powers of regulation and enforcement
and the means to carry them out.
5. A key issue is the conditions under which
a (waste) ship is dismantled to ensure protection of the environment
and human health. The Basel Convention has produced a guideline
on the Environmentally Sound Management of waste, the Technical
Guideline for the Environmentally Sound Management of the Full
and Partial Dismantling of Ships. Implementation of such guidelines
(together with those of the IMO and ILO) by enforceable authorisations
or permits at dismantling sites would provide a means of ensuring
protection of the environment and, to some extent, human health
during the dismantling activity.
6. An issue for many countries is of capacity
building. Developing capacity requires considerable resources
to implement where the infrastructure is lacking. This is taken
to include development of the legislation, regulatory field officers
with appropriate training and competence as well as investment
by the commercial sector in environmental protection technologies.
OVERCOMING THE
BARRIERS
7. Other international agreements have addressed
these barriers, as described above, by establishing powerful financial
supporting mechanisms to promote capacity building and compliance.
The Montreal Protocol is one example. This makes funds available
for Parties to develop compliance by ceasing the production of
the banned CFCs. The Montreal Protocol and other similar global
Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) should be compared
with the Basel Convention in the context of international discussions
on environmentally sound ship dismantling.
8. The Agency's view therefore is that a
successful mechanism for promoting global environmentally sound
ship recycling should comprise the following features:
— An international agreement that establishes
when a ship is to be subject to control for recycling (as waste);
— A control system that ensures a ship
for recycling is being dispatched to a suitably authorised facility;
— Identification of a competent authority
to provide regulatory oversight of the movement;
— Enforceable powers and provision
for inspection and supervision to provide protection of the environment
in the case of breaches of the system;
— An adequately funded mechanism to
support the development of regulatory capacity in states where
this needs to be enhanced;
— All of the above to promote the establishment
of a global network of facilities able to handle ship dismantling
in an appropriate way in accordance with the concept of environmentally
sound management and health and safety standards.
9. Many of the elements of the above are
already contained in the Basel Convention/WSR and IMO systems.
A combination of the two with enforceable powers is needed.
Environment Agency
August 2004
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