OBJECTIVE: to provide further protection of the marine environment from ship-source pollution
by improving the availability and use of port reception facilities for waste and cargo residues.
SUBSTANCE: The Directive proposed by the Commission forms part of the overall Community
waste policy. It imposes an obligation on all ports to provide adequate reception facilities for ship-
generated waste and cargo residues. The facilities must meet the needs of the ships using them
without causing undue delay.
The main tool for preventing ships from discharging their ship-generated waste at sea is the
principle of mandatory delivery, meaning that any master of a ship which has not delivered all
ship-generated waste in the port must be able to demonstrate that non-delivery was legitimate.
If this cannot be done, the ship will not be allowed to proceed to sea until delivery has taken
place. This rule will apply to all ships calling at a Community port.
For logistical purposes the operators of the facilities need advance notice of the use of the
facilities. The proposal therefore includes a notification obligation for ships and includes a model
form which specifies the information to be provided.
Also, the establishment of fee systems for the charging for delivery of ship-generated waste to a
port reception facility shall be based on common principles. The principles adopted exclude the
'direct' fee system in which only the users of the facilities share the costs.
Ships regularly calling at ports at short intervals may be exempted from these obligations if they
have arrangements which ensure that waste is delivered in one of their regular ports of call.
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