Ship Recycling (Facilities and Requirements for Hazardous Materials on Ships) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Baroness Vere of Norbiton Excerpts

Wednesday 18th November 2020 Grand Committee

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[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Ship Recycling (Facilities and Requirements for Hazardous Materials on Ships) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport (Baroness Vere of Norbiton) (Con)]

My Lords, these draft regulations will be made under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 in order to give effect to the Northern Ireland protocol in the withdrawal agreement.

The United Kingdom has already introduced European Union exit legislation on ship recycling. The Ship Recycling (Facilities and Requirements for Hazardous Materials on Ships) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, approved by your Lordships’ House on 29 January 2019, will come into force at the end of this year. The purpose of these regulations is to ensure that our retained legislation on ship recycling will continue to be legally operable, and to transfer functions from the European Commission to the Secretary of State.

The regulations before the Committee today are necessary to implement the Northern Ireland protocol, which addresses the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland. The Northern Ireland protocol includes provisions in Article 5 which specify that certain provisions of EU law will apply in respect of Northern Ireland. The EU ship recycling regulation is one of the provisions listed in Annexe 2 of the protocol. As a consequence, EU law will affect ship recycling facilities in Northern Ireland.

The EU ship recycling regulation transposed key parts of the Hong Kong convention on recycling of ships into EU law. The provisions apply to ship recycling facilities in the EU and to EU-flagged merchant ships above 500 gross tonnes. They do not apply to military vessels.

The main provisions of the EU regulation have applied from 31 December 2018 and include: rules about the authorisation and permitting of ship recycling facilities; the steps EU and non-EU ship recycling facilities should take if they want to be listed in the EU’s approved list of ship recycling facilities, known as the European list; a requirement that all EU-flagged ships must be recycled at an approved ship recycling facility, according to a certified ship recycling plan; and a requirement that all new EU-flagged ships must carry a valid inventory of hazardous materials. The EU regulation also requires existing EU-flagged ships, as well as non-EU flagged ships calling at European ports, to carry an inventory of hazardous materials by the end of 2020.

The new draft regulations amend the 2019 exit regulations. This in turn amends the retained EU ship recycling regulation and devolved legislation which affects Northern Ireland. I stress at this point that we have consulted Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive about the changes to the draft regulations, and they have given their consent.

This instrument makes two substantive changes. First, it amends the provisions affecting ship recycling facilities in Northern Ireland to reflect our obligations under the Northern Ireland Protocol. In particular, it prohibits facilities not on the EU’s approved European list from recycling EU-flagged ships, and it requires competent authorities in Northern Ireland to notify the Secretary of State about any change in the authorisation or permitting status of their facilities. It also requires the Secretary of State to notify the European Commission of any such changes.

The impact of the protocol means that the existing arrangements for Northern Ireland facilities will remain the same at the end of the implementation period. Facilities in Northern Ireland will remain listed in Part A of the European list, which covers facilities located in the EU and in the European Economic Area. Secondly, the draft regulations will incorporate changes to reflect the fact that, by the end of this year, existing UK ships and non-UK ships calling at UK ports must carry an inventory of hazardous materials. This is a welcome development, because new ships are already required to carry a certified inventory. Applying this provision to existing ships should result in a more coherent and complete regime for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships.

Ensuring the safe and environmentally sound dismantling and recycling of ships at the end of their operational life has been a concern for a number of years. Many ships are currently dismantled on beaches in Asia, with little regard for human safety or protection for the environment. It is important, therefore, that we continue to have an effective ship recycling regime, which protects public health and the environment.

The changes introduced by this instrument will ensure that environmental law continues to function at the end of the transition period and demonstrates that the UK is implementing its commitments under the Northern Ireland protocol. I commend these regulations to the Committee.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord McNicol of West Kilbride) (Lab)]

The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, has withdrawn, so the next speaker is the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to today’s very short debate. These regulations are fairly simple, but a number of good questions have been raised that I would like to go into in a little more detail, if I can.

On the practical implications in Northern Ireland, which were mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, although the right reverend Prelate claimed not to be an expert, it is quite useful to understand what will change in Northern Ireland, because, basically, nothing will change. The permitting regime will stay the same after the implementation period as it is now, and the competent authorities will stay the same. Each devolved Administration will continue to use their own competent authorities to approve and permit their facilities—that will happen in each region of the country.

The main difference worth emphasising is that facilities in Northern Ireland will get some benefit from this because, as noble Lords have pointed out, they will join the Part A of the European list until their permit expires. When their permit expires, it will probably be quicker and easier for them to reapply if they decide to remain on the list. Facilities in the rest of the UK will be treated as non-EU/EEA facilities and will be removed from the list. However, it is true that the three facilities that will be removed from the list can reapply to join, and they would do so under Part B. We know that that process is under way. Over time, we would expect the two lists to remain fairly closely aligned, because the standards will start off the same.

We have been in conversation with the three facilities that will need to join Part B, and we have also had reassurance from the European Commission that it will be sympathetic. For example, we have asked it to waive the non-mandatory elements of the application process for these three recycling facilities, which are: Able UK in Middlesbrough; Swansea Drydocks; and Dales Marine Services, near Edinburgh. If the Commission waives the non-mandatory elements, we expect that this will accelerate the process and, once on the European list, all UK facilities would be treated equally. However, I reiterate that this relates to a relatively small proportion of a shipyard’s business.

The right reverend Prelate talked about the coverage of the impact assessment. Of course, he has been in the House long enough to know that the impact assessment covers only the regulations that we are looking at, but he is right that the marine industry as a whole has a significant impact on carbon emissions, which we need to take incredibly seriously. I am sure that the right reverend Prelate has been hanging on the Prime Minister’s every word today as he outlined our 10-point plan, which includes £20 million for marine decarbonisation. That will be a really good springboard to try to look at what will work for marine. We recognise that there is an issue that we need to address. There is a longer-term strategy, Maritime 2050, which looks at the sector going out many decades, but we recognise that, ahead of COP 26, there is a lot that we can do. I know that the maritime sector is keen to play its part in decarbonisation, and I am very interested in looking at the various technologies that might be forthcoming that will help to decarbonise the sector as a whole.

However, on the basis of what I have said, I hope that noble Lords will feel able to agree to these regulations.

Motion agreed.