Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
The EU Ship-Source Pollution Directive and coastal state jurisdiction over ships
Alan Khee-Jin Tan *
I. OVERVIEW
In June 2008, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) released its judgment1 on the validity of Directive 2005/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of penalties for infringements (hereafter “the Directive”).2 The Directive had been controversial from the outset for seeking to criminalise all forms of pollution emanating from ships in EU waters, even those arising from accidental discharges. In this regard, the political context surrounding the Directive is hugely relevant. The Directive forms part of the European Commission’s strong response against shipping in the wake of the Erika and Prestige oil spill disasters in 1999 and 2002 respectively. Among other responses, the Commission and individual EU Member States had driven efforts at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to
* Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. I thank Henrik Ringbom for comments made in his personal capacity. I am also grateful to Colin de la Rue for his suggestions. All errors and omissions remain mine. The law and developments are reflected as at October 2009.
The following abbreviations are used:
de la Rue & Anderson: C de la Rue & CB Anderson, Shipping and the Environment, 2nd edn (London, 2009);
Kokott AG’s Opinion: see infra, n 10;
Nordquist, IV Commentary: MH Nordquist (ed), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary, vol IV, (1991);
Ringbom: H Ringbom, The EU Maritime Safety Policy and International Law (Leiden, 2008);
Tan: AK-J Tan, Vessel Source Marine Pollution: The Law and Politics of International Regulation (Cambridge, 2006).
1. Queen (The) on the Application of International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) and Others v. Secretary of State for Transport (Case C-308/06) [2008] OJ C183/2 (hereafter “Intertanko (ECJ)”).
2. [2005] OJ L255/11; corrigenda at [2006] OJ L33/87 and [2006] OJ L105/65, as amended by Directive 2009/123/EC [2009] OJ L280/52 (hereafter “Directive 2005/35/EC”).
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