Is the shipping industry under threat by European over-regulation, particularly in the context of pollution prevention?

Abstract

This thesis intends to examine the extensive body of regulatory measures which the European Union (EU) has adopted in relation to the maritime transport industry, and interpret whether these instruments do justice to this vital sector. Indeed, the shipping industry is characterised by innumerable complex and often conflicting interests which can only be appeased by a legal framework which offers sufficient transparency and stability. The first chapter, which is mainly introductory, examines the historical development of EU shipping policies since the establishment of the European Economic Community back in 1957 until 2001, as well as the complex environment within which such shipping policies take shape more generally. This is relevant as both analyses are closely related to modern day policy outcomes. Chapter two then takes a detailed look at the three EU legislative packages which were drawn up in response to the Erika and Prestige maritime incidents, which exposed all the vulnerabilities of the Union's maritime safety regulatory body till that date. The discussion will reveal how, since the two much publicised accidents, a maritime safety culture has slowly been developing in the EU. The final part of the chapter then attempts to encapsulate the salient arguments in the endless debate regarding the EU's proposed accession to the International Maritime Organisation. The third chapter is entirely devoted to the recently adopted EU Directive on ship source pollution and the introduction of criminal sanctions in the case of infringements thereof. This chapter is intended to explain why the introduction of the Directive has been met with fierce criticism and indignation by various sectors of the maritime transport industry, and will examine the possibly crippling effect of the criminalisation of seafarers on the industry. After having analysed the past and present workings of the Community's maritime legislative framework in the previous chapters, chapter four adopts a more forward looking approach to European shipping policy-making by explaining the philosophy behind the current Green Paper on a future maritime policy for the EU, and the complimentary emerging concept of marine spatial planning. The fifth and final chapter offers a concluding analysis of the legal notions and external considerations discussed throughout, in an attempt to decipher whether the EU really has over-regulated in the sphere of maritime safety and shipping generally, and, if so, what impact this may have on the industry in the immediate future and in the longer term.