Legality of EU Proposals on Ship Recycling

This legal opinion by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) argues that the European Union's Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR) is illegal under international and EU law. CIEL contends that the SRR creates an unlawful exemption for EU-flagged ships from the Basel Convention's prohibitions on exporting hazardous waste to developing countries, particularly following the entry into force of the Basel Ban Amendment on December 5, 2019.

• End-of-life ships are classified as hazardous waste under the Basel Convention, a position affirmed by the Basel Conference of the Parties (COP) in Decision VII/26 of October 2004.
• The EU's Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR) is viewed by CIEL as an illegal unilateral exemption of EU-flagged vessels from the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR), which implements the Basel Convention.
• The Basel Ban Amendment, which entered into force on December 5, 2019, prohibits the export of hazardous waste from Annex VII countries (including the EU, OECD, and Liechtenstein) to non-Annex VII countries for any reason.
• CIEL argues that the SRR cannot be justified as a valid Article 11 agreement under the Basel Convention because it is not a bilateral, multilateral, or regional agreement with the receiving states, nor does it provide an equivalent level of environmental protection to the Basel Ban.
• Any separate bilateral or multilateral agreements between the EU or its member states and developing countries to facilitate the export of end-of-life ships would also violate Article 4A and Article 11 of the Basel Convention.

APA

Azoulay, D., & Eisen, N. (n.d.). Legality of EU Proposals on Ship Recycling. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Legality-of-EU-Proposals-on-Ship-Recycling-2020.pdf

Chicago

Azoulay, David, and Nathaniel Eisen. Legality of EU Proposals on Ship Recycling. Center for International Environmental Law, n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Legality-of-EU-Proposals-on-Ship-Recycling-2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Azoulay |first1=David |last2=Eisen |first2=Nathaniel |title=Legality of EU Proposals on Ship Recycling |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Legality-of-EU-Proposals-on-Ship-Recycling-2020.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{azoulayndlegality, author = {Azoulay, David and Eisen, Nathaniel}, title = {{Legality of EU Proposals on Ship Recycling}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Legality-of-EU-Proposals-on-Ship-Recycling-2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }