SPAIN ENDORSES MEDITERRANEAN ECA

The announcement was important as it marked the first time that Spain had formally announced support for a potential Mediterranean ECA application.

France was one of several parties to submit an environmental impact study for consideration at the 74th session of the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in May 2019, which is a necessary procedural step before formally requesting that an ECA be designated.

Spain also discounted the possibility of the EU requesting the designation of an ECA, noting that the ECA could not be delivered without achieving consensus among all the states bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It was unclear whether this reflect concerns about the possibility of diverting trade flows away from the country, or wider concern about the EU assuming greater responsibility for environmental regulation, which remains a national competency in the EU.

The conference saw presentations from INERIS, an environmental consultancy, about the results of an impact assessment examining the environmental and economic effects of designating the Mediterranean Sea as an ECA under IMO’s prevention of pollution convention (MARPOL) Annex VI.

There are currently four designated SOx-ECAs worldwide: the Baltic Sea area; the North Sea area; the North American area (covering designated coastal areas off the United States and Canada); and the United States Caribbean Sea area (around Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands).

In the ECASs, the limit for sulphur in fuel oil used on board ships is 0.10%, while outside these areas the limit is currently 3.5%, falling to 0.50% from 1 January 2020.