Green Ships:Ship breaking Regulations

AFS Convention

Summary

According to AFS, will enter force and become binding on the parties one year after 25 states, representing 25% of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage, have ratified it. (Gipperth). Panama became the 25th state (out of 166 IMO member countries) to ratify the convention. These 25 countries represent 38.09% of worlds merchant shipping tonnage, convention entered force September 2008. (Gipperth)

Strengths

AFS Convention prohibited all use of TBT based antifouling paints in 2008. (Stichnothe)

Weaknesses

Due to entering into force of AFS convention on September 2008, huge amount of TBT containing wastes is expected to be produced, near shipyards, in following months. (Stichnothe)

Basel Convention

Summary

The Basel Convention remains the principal international legal instrument of regulation on the shipbreaking industry. (Alam). The main purpose of the Basel Convention is to ensure that parties take responsibility for their own hazardous waste, establish hazardous waste disposal facilities (including recycling) within their territory, minimise the generation and transboundary movement of hazardous waste, and ensure that they do not export the hazards and damage to human health and the environment, to other countries. (Alam). The European Waste Shipment Regulation 259/93/EEC determines which procedures to apply before waste can be shipped within, into and out of the European Community.26 The Regulation is largely based on the Basel Convention. (Alam). In most cases, ships exported for shipbreaking are a clear violation of these objectives. (Alam). United States dominated many of original Basel Convention negotiations, failed to ratify agreement, joining Haiti and Afghanistan as only signatories to the agreement that have failed to ratify treaty.

Strengths

Firstly, it obligates the Parties, irrespective of their status (e.g., State of Export, Import, Transit, flag or port State), to prohibit or not permit the export of hazardous and other wastes to parties, which have prohibited the import of such wastes. (Alam). Basel Convention is environmentally sound management, which means taking all practicable steps to ensure protection of human health and the environment. (Alam). Basel Convention defines “illegal traffic” of hazardous wastes and makes it a criminal act. (Alam). Basel Convention's 7th Conference of Parties has recognised that end-oflife vessels containing PCBs, asbestos, heavy metals and other hazardous substances should be legally defined as hazardous wastes in international law. (Alam). Therefore, ships containing such hazardous constituents and destined for ship breaking should be defined as hazardous wastes. This is a significant area of reform for the Basel Convention which requires clarification. (Alam). failure to prescribe a process by which to ascertain the information has meant that assessment is reliant on representations made by authorities in the importing state. This is problematic where lack of capacity and endemic corruption are regularly encountered. (Alam). The Basel Ban Amendment64 prohibits all hazardous wastes from being transported from OECD nations to non-OECD nations. (Alam). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (34 countries founded in 1961) http://www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/list-oecd-member-countries.htm. (Alam). establishes a total ban on exports of hazardous wastes from OECD and EC countries to developing countries. Fulfills the purpose of the convention, namely, “to prevent the developed nations from ‘dumping’ on the developing nations. (Alam)

Weaknesses

ambiguities in the Convention. Arts. 4.1 and 6 of the Basel Convention stipulates that no shipment of waste should take place without all “States Concerned” being informed and consented. (Alam). It is well known that this requirement can be circumvented by unscrupulous waste ship traders by declaring a ship to be waste only after it is in international waters or already at the shipbreaking state. (Alam). The “prior informed consent” (PIC) mechanism requires that the state of export informs an importing state of any transfer, detailing accurately the nature and volume of the waste, and receives written consent from the state of import. (Alam). Violations have shown, however, that exporting parties frequently misrepresent the nature of the waste involved. (Alam). Abidjan disaster the waste concerned was described as ‘routine slops’, the dirty water from washing naval tanks, but was revealed to actually be a mixture of fuels, caustic soda and over two tonnes of hydrogen sulphide. (Alam). This lack of technical capacity has meant that importing states are often unable to ascertain whether the information provided is indeed correct. (Alam). The difficulties are further exacerbated by the fact that the Convention offers no explanation of ‘environmentally sound management’ beyond, ‘taking all practicable steps to ensure that hazardous wastes or other wastes are managed in a manner which will protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from such wastes’. 53 Exactly what is required then is subject to interpretation and conjecture. (Alam). This limitation has resulted in what is termed the ‘recycling loophole’. 59 It is argued that most waste transfers claimed to be for reuse or reclamation are either ‘sham recycling’, where future use is fabricated to disguise the fact that the waste is actually bound for dumping or ‘dirty recycling’, where the recycling process itself is harmful to the environment and human health. (Alam). Amendment struggles to take significant effect, as participation in ratifying the amendment is low and it has not entered into force yet. (Alam). no direct legal ban on the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries. (Alam)