On 25 January 2022, the Commission launched a public consultation to gather the stakeholders’ views on a new legislative proposal to revise Directive 2005/35/EC (the so-called “Ship-Source Pollution Directive”) in order to establish if it achieved its objective to contribute to a better protection of the environment.

The Directive’s purpose is to protect the marine environment from ship-source pollution by incorporating into European law the international standards set out in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). More particularly, the Directive impose Member States to ensure that ship-source discharges of polluting substances into areas such as, amongst the others, their internal waters and their territorial sea are regarded as infringements if committed with intent, recklessly or by serious negligence.

In line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, therefore, the initiative aims, on the one hand, at preventing marine pollution, by ensuring that any natural or legal persons responsible for the discharge of polluting substances into European waters are subject to adequate penalties, including criminal ones, and, on the other hand, at better applying the polluter-pays and precautionary principles to avoid the pollution of seas and oceans.

Stakeholders will have until 3 March 2022 to submit their opinions by filling in the online questionnaire, which will then be used to support the impact assessment the Commission is currently carrying out.

Marco Stillo