Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
European Union Maritime Law
Simon Baughen*
REGULATIONS
210. Commission Regulation (EU) No 697/2014 of 24 June 2014 amending Regulation (EC) No 906/2009 as regards its period of application Text with EEA relevance [2014] OJ L184/3.
This extends until April 2020 the Liner Consortia Block Exemption Regulation
which exempts liner shipping consortia that have a market share of up to 30% from EU antitrust rules.
211. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport and amending Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 2013/0224 (COD).
EU Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament have reached agreement on the introduction of an EU monitoring, reporting and verification (“MRV”) scheme for CO2 emissions from ships in 2018. It is expected that the regulation introducing the scheme now will come into force on 1 July 2015, with the scheme coming into operation from 1 January 2018. The scheme will oblige shipowners to monitor CO2 emissions on a per voyage and annual basis and will cover emissions from virtually all commercial vessels over 5,000 gross tons.
The scheme will cover all voyages within the EU, all incoming voyages from the last non-EU port to the first EU port of call, and all outgoing voyages from an EU port to the next non-EU port of call, including ballast voyages, as well as covering emissions in EU ports. There are exceptions in relation to warships, and to ship movements and activities not serving the purpose of transporting cargo or passengers for commercial purposes. The MRV will be based on the calculation of emissions consumed, using one of four monitoring methods (Bunker Fuel Delivery Notes, bunker fuel tank monitoring, flow meters or direct emission measurements) and ships will need to document the choice made and how it has been applied and a compliance document issued by the verifier will have to be kept on board. Reporting and publication of reported information should be organised on an annual basis.
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