Introduction

Recently a Directive 2000/59EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues was put into force. According to Article 1. the purpose of the directive to reduce the discharges of ship-generated waste and cargo residues into the sea, especially illegal discharges, from ships using ports in the Community, by improving the availability and use of port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues, thereby enhancing the protection of the marine environment. As accompanying measures Member States and the Commission shall co-operate in establishing an appropriate information and monitoring system, covering at least the whole of the Community, to:

• Improve the identification of ships, which have not delivered their ship-generated waste and cargo residues in accordance with this Directive.

• Ascertain whether the goals set in the Article 1. of the Directive have been met.

Regarding the EC Directive 200759 on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues Consistency with the Baltic Strategy have been sought for both legal reasons and for political reasons, as the European Commission is also Contracting Party to the Helsinki Convention HELCOM, and , as the European Commission has found the work within the HELCOM regarding these issues to be of importance.

The content of the Directive could be divided into three categories:

1. Obligations on ports

These include a reiteration of the MARPOL 73/78 requirements to provide adequate port reception facilities (Article 4) and requirements to elaborate port waste management plans to this end to estimate the needs and to specify how these are met (Article 5).

 2. Obligations on ships'

These include a requirement to notify the port on the wastes onboard and the wastes to be delivered (Article 6), herby easing the life of the port and providing information to be used during a port state control. Furthermore, ships are required to deliver, as a general rule, all ship-generated waste onboard the ship when calling a port.

 3. Obligations on authorities

These include a requirement for the enforcement of the Directive to be carried out through a spot check mechanism whereby at least 25 % of the ships entering a port are inspected.