Recycling of EU ships: from prohibition to regulation?

Ships are recycled where their scrap value is highest. Because ships travel and can change flag quickly, the legal framework of the 1989 Basel Convention has been inefficient. The 2009 Ship Recycling Convention (“SRC”) tackled the problem by developing international standards for recycling facilities and designing a documentary system suitable for ships. The 10th Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention encouraged ratification of the SRC but evidenced differing views on whether the SRC provides a level of control equivalent to that of the Basel Convention. This means that there is no consensus on whether the SRC system can replace the Basel Convention system. The EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU-SRR), approved by the European Parliament in November 2013, is a bold instrument, which aims to support the SRC and deal efficiently with the problem of ship recycling. The EU-SRR unilaterally removes EU ships from the scope of the Basel Convention. At the same time it significantly increases the requirements that need to be complied with, both in relation to the hazardous substances that can be contained in a ship destined for recycling but also in relation to the requirements of approved ship recycling facilities (SRFs), including an indirect exclusion of beaching as a recycling technique for EU-flagged ships. The exclusion of EU ships from the Basel Convention, as well as the additional SRC requirements, raise questions on its legality, efficiency and policy objectives which are discussed in this paper.