The European Commission has sent reasoned opinions to Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France,
Luxembourg, Portugal and the United Kingdom for failure to adopt
national legislation on penalties against those responsible for
polluting discharges at sea.
The Commission has decided to act against the
eight Member States while they had not fully transposed into national
law a Directive adopted in 2005. The Directive aims at improving
maritime safety and enhancing the protection of the marine environment
from pollution by ships. It implements international standards for
ship-source pollution into Community law, defines ship-source
discharges of polluting substances at sea as infringements when
committed with intent, recklessness or serious negligence and calls for
adequate penalties to be imposed to all persons responsible for such
discharges.
Commission action announced on Wednesday is the last step before
bringing Member States to the European Court of Justice. The Directive
should have been fully transposed into national law by April 1 2007.
