The EU regulates the export of waste in the European Waste Shipment Regulation (EWSR) or Council Regulation 259/93/EEC. This concerns the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the EU member states. The EWSR transposes the provisions of the Basel Convention on transboundary movements of hazardous waste and their disposal. It also regulates the export of end-of-life vessels; this was confirmed by a ruling of the Council of State in the Netherlands in June 2002

End-of-life vessel
In the EWSR an end-of-life vessel destined for dismantling is to be considered as hazardous waste. That applies for ships that are not properly emptied of any cargo or of other materials arising from the operation of the vessel, that may be classified as a dangerous substance or (hazardous) waste.

Port state
The EU considers the state of export/dispatch: any state from which the shipment of (hazardous) waste was planned or made. This is the state where the shipment was planned to start 'physically'. Or the state from which the shipment has begun, from where 'the physical action of moving' the waste started. In most cases the state of export will be the port state and not the flag state.

Mislead
That means the EWSR is an important instrument in the hands of a port state. This state can fully enforce the EWSR rules on an end-of-life vessel that is not properly emptied and for which the original producer of the (hazardous) waste does not take his responsibility. Some member states of the EU already apply the EWSR in this way. But in June 2004 the EU report 'Oil tanker phase out and the ship scrapping study' concluded that ship owners effectively evade the EWSR. In the spring of 2005 Danish ship owners mislead their government and exported the Danish ferry RIKI illegally to the Indian beaches of Alang. In vain the Danish minister of Environment requested her Indian colleague to send back the ship to Denmark.

Destination unkown
The EU report reveals the lack of clean and safe shipbreaking facilities for the single hull oil tankers that have to phased out due to EU and IMO rules. Furthermore the EU hardly knows which European tankers have to be removed. In December 2004 Greenpeace published the report 'Destination unknown: European single hull oil tankers...No place to go', a search for the European oil tankers that have to be taken out of service. Bitter conclusion: many 'phased out' ships can undisturbed continue sailing the high seas. The rules do exist, but they lack law enforcers.

Find the complete text of the EWSR here.