EU Shipping Law
Page 1143
CHAPTER 21
European Union law relating to the maritime environment: the hazardous and noxious substances by sea convention
A. Introduction
21.001 This chapter considers the European Union (“EU”) law relating to the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, 1996 (the “HNS Convention”). The HNS Convention has generated considerable commentary1 and, indeed, some controversy but the focus of this chapter is focused on the EU aspects of the convention. 21.002 The principal EU measure is Council Decision 2002/971 authorising the Member States, in the interest of the Community, to ratify or accede to the HNS Convention.2 21.003 The background, in part, to the decision is clear from the fact that the EU is not a member of the International Maritime Organization (“IMO”). The HNS Convention is a mixed agreement.B. Council Decision 2002/971 of 18 November 2002 authorising the Member States, in the interest of the Community, to ratify or accede to the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, 1996 (the “HNS Convention”)
21.004 On 18 November 2002, the Council adopted Decision 2002/971 authorising the Member States, in the interest of, what is now, the EU, to ratify or accede to the HNS Convention.3 The fifth recital of the decision provides that the“HNS Convention is particularly important, given the interests of the Community and its Member States, because it makes for improved victim protection under international rules on marine pollution liability, in keeping with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”