EMSA Guidance on Ship Recycling Port State Control inspections

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(www.MaritimeCyprus.com) The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) released the publication: Guidance on inspections of ships by the port States in accordance with Regulation (EU) 1257/2013 on ship recycling, ‘Inspections from the EU port States to enforce provisions of the ship recycling Regulation. 

The application date of the EU’s Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR) was 31 December 2018. From this date, new EU ships must carry a certificate for the Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IC) while existing EU ships shall only carry an IC from 31 December 2020. Non-EU ships should only be requested to submit a statement of compliance (SoC), together with the inventory of hazardous materials, from 31 December 2020.

A. PSC Directive inspection regime
During each inspection of a ship initiated under the PSC Directive regime, the port State control inspector (PSCO), as a minimum, must check the inventory certificate s (IC) or a ready for recycling certificate (RfRC)
or a statement of compliance (SoC) as applicable is kept on board and report this in THETIS.

The IC and RfRC formats, which have been established, respectively, under Commission Implementing Decisions (EU) 2016/2325 and 2016/2321 can be found in Annexes 4 and 5 of this guidance document. A
model of a SoC that may be used for ships flying the flag of a third country is provided in Annex 3 of this guidance document.

It should be noted that, any initial check of the SR certificates or the PSCO’s observations of the ship may reveal clear grounds to imply that the ship is not in compliance with the SRR. In this case, the PSCO will
continue the inspection under the SRR regime.

B. SRR inspection regime (outside the scope of the PSC Directive)
In case of clear grounds revealed during a ship inspection initiated under the PSC Directive regime, the PSCO, acting under the SRR regime, may either continue the inspection or may ask for the assistance of
another inspector authorized by the Member State to act under the SRR regime. In this regard, the inspection report should be recorded in THETIS-EU.

In addition, outside the scope of the PSC Directive’s inspection regime, Member States may also wish to enforce the respective provisions of the SRR using authorized inspectors to initiate inspections in order to
control a ship’s compliance with the respective requirements of the SRR. In this regard, the inspection report should also be reported in THETIS-EU.

In conclusion, SR inspections shall be initiated under the PSC Directive regime and may also be initiated by a port State outside the scope of the PSC Directive.

Furthermore, after any initial check of the SR related certificate, in case of clear grounds, an inspector (a PSCO or a “ship recycling inspector” that will work out of the scope of the PSC Directive’s regime i.e. solely
under the SRR’s regime) may undertake a detailed inspection on a ship flying a flag of another EU MS or control the Statement of Compliance of a ship flying the flag of a third country. In both cases, the ship may
be liable for further enforcement actions in accordance with the respective provisions of the SRR (see section 6.3 of the guidance document).

Development and maintenance of the inventory of hazardous materials for ships will therefore become paramount as the enforcement deadlines approach.

The PSC Guide advises inspectors that the detention of a ship may be considered if the ship recycling non-compliances involve:

  1. failure to carry a ship recycling-related certificate as appropriate;
  2. failure to carry a valid ship recycling-related certificate, i.e. when the condition of the ship does not correspond substantially with the particulars of the certificate (except when Part I of the Inventory of Hazardous Materials has not been properly maintained and updated);
  3. the Inventory of Hazardous Materials required by the EU SRR is not specific to the ship;
  4. the Inventory of Hazardous Materials required by the EU SRR has not been verified by the Flag State or an appropriate organisation authorised by it;
  5. the ship recycling plan does not properly reflect the information contained in the Inventory of Hazardous Materials;
  6. an EU ship is heading to a ship recycling facility not included in the European list of ship recycling facilities;
  7. non-compliance with the control measures for Hazardous Materials listed in Annex I of the EU SRR.

Click below to download the EMSA guide:

Source: EMSA

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