Recycling of Ships - Prevention of Pollution of the Marine Environment from Vessels - page 92

Regulation 8 of the Convention for ensuring gas-free-for-hot-work certification of

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tankers:
Ships destined to be recycled shall . . . in the case of tankers certified to carry oil or
chemicals, arrive at the Ship Recycling Facility with clean cargo and slop tanks and cargo
pipes and in gas-free-for-hot-work condition. 89

The conference did not accept the Indian proposal, instead introducing a com-
promise provision that reads:
Ships destined to be recycled shall . . . in the case of a tanker, arrive at the Ship Recycling
Facility with cargo tanks and pump room(s) in a condition that is ready for certification as
Safe-for-entry, or Safe-for-hot work, or both, according to national laws, regulations and
policies of the Party under whose jurisdiction the Ship Recycling Facility operates . 90
This provision will not be able to stop the import of hazardous tankers into
developing countries. Under this article, a ship owner will be bound to make a
tanker safe-for-entry or safe-for-hot-work before sending it to a developing

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country s shipbreaking yard only if the domestic law of the ship recycling country

requires such condition. So, if there is no bar in the domestic law of the ship
recycling country, the export of a tanker without making it

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will
be allowed. This provision will give a competitive advantage to countries which do
not require such certification in their domestic laws and will encourage some
developing recycling countries not to enact stringent domestic laws requiring
compulsory prior

safe-for-hot-work

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safe-for-hot-work certification.

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5.5.3 Application of the Convention to Government Ships

The Convention will not apply to government ships. 91 However, parties are
required to adopt appropriate measures so that government ships act in a manner
consistent with the Convention. 92
Exclusion of government ships is a highly debatable issue. Such exclusion is
surely inconsistent with the spirit of the Convention. More importantly, the Basel
Convention, the European Community Waste Shipment Regulation, and the IMO
London Dumping Convention did not exclude government ships; meaning there is a
conflict between the new Convention and the Basel Convention. There may be valid
grounds to exclude government ships when they are in operation, but the Conven-
tion should be applicable after the decommissioning and deregistration of the ships
from government fleets. Moreover, the Convention should be applicable in cases of

89

Consideration of the Draft International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound
Recycling of Ships, para. 11, IMO Doc. SR/Conf/ 26 (2 April 2009).
90 Recycling of Ships Convention, Annex, reg. 8.3 (emphasis added).
91 Recycling of Ships Convention art. 3(2). Government ships are “warships, naval auxiliary or
other ships owned or operated by a Party and used, for the time being, only on government
non-commercial service.” Ibid.
92 Ibid.