Category: European Union

By: Eva Sinemus

PDF version: Eva Sinemus, Final_120321,NCLOS Blog

Matter commented on: Shipbreaking and shortcomings of environmental obligations for EU Ship Owners

1 Introduction

Global maritime trade reached 11.08 billion tons in 2019 (UNCTAD, Review of Maritime Transport 2020, 2). At the end of their life, vessels are scrapped, mostly in environmentally highly questionable conditions. Unfortunately, 90% of scrapping continues to take place in developing States using the beaching method (Barua et al 2018, 30881), allowing pollutants to seep into the coastal and marine environment. Workers take vessels apart with gas torches while liquids are discharged on the beaches and in the sea, and wastes are burned on the beach (Galley 2014, 11). The harmful beaching practice is especially widespread among vessels owned by EU nationals (EU owners) (European Commission, Ship recycling: reducing human and environmental impacts 2016, 3). EU owners scrap their end-of-life vessels in the developing States at substandard shipbreaking yards, with substantial impacts on the environment. An uncomfortable truth comes to show: With EU lawmakers watching, EU owners operate vessels for decades, profiting greatly. As soon as the profit margins decrease, there are no qualms to sail those vessels full of asbestos and oil onto a developing State’s beach, destroying the environment in the process.

By: Thomas Bickl

PDF Version: Bickl AG CJEU SLO CRO

Matter commented on: Advocate General Opinion Case Republic of Slovenia v Republic of Croatia (C-457/18), 11 December 2019

I. Introduction

The Republic of Slovenia brought infringement proceedings against the Republic of Croatia under Article 259 TFEU before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 13 July 2018 (C-457/18). Slovenia claims that Croatia violates its obligations to respect EU law by refusing to implement the arbitration award on the maritime and land border between Croatia and Slovenia issued on 29 June 2017.

By: Maria Madalena das Neves

PDF version: EFTA Surveillance Authority Rejects Complaint Against Norway Related to Snow Crab Fisheries

Decision commented on: EFTA Surveillance Authority Decision of 4 October 2017 closing a complaint case against the Norwegian Government concerning restrictions on commercial fishing or catching of snow crab (Decision No. 173/17/COL).

On 30 September 2016, a group of enterprises of EU Member States engaged in snow crab fisheries in the Barents Sea, submitted a complaint against Norway to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) (see complaint here). The complainants, whose identification has been not been made public (but likely including at least one Lithuanian enterprise), argued that Norway’s Regulation on Prohibition of Snow Crab Catching of 19 December 2014 and Act on the Right to Participate in Fishing and Catching of 26 March 1999 conferred an unjustified privileged access to vessels owned by Norwegian citizens and to Russian vessels to catch snow crab in the maritime zones of Norway (particularly in the Svalbard Fisheries Protection Zone and on the Norwegian Continental Shelf), and that said legislation was, consequently, inconsistent with Articles 4, 31(1), 34, 36(1), 124 of the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement and with Article 5 of Protocol 9 of the EEA Agreement.  More specifically, the complainants argued that Norway’s secondary legislation regulating the catch of snow crab, which prevents nationals from other EEA Member States from establishing a company in Norway in order to be able to engage in fisheries or catching of crab, was inconsistent with the right of establishment, the freedom to provide services, the principle of non-discrimination, and the principle of proportionality prescribed by the EEA Agreement.