French CO2 Emissions Requirement 'Slipped Under the Radar' – ICS

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has written to the French Government to raise concerns about a new requirement for foreign shipowners to provide information to their French customers about CO2 emissions. The new rules apply a detailed methodology that has not been discussed internationally and appears to have slipped under the radar of the international shipping industry.

ICS says that Article L. 1431-3 of the French Transport Code came into effect for foreign shipping companies in October 2013. It adds that shipping companies are still trying to understand the detail of the new CO2 reporting requirements, the English translation of which has only recently come to attention. However, serious concerns are already being raised by international companies about the validity of the methodologies that have been developed by France’s Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy and set out in the Methodological Guide for Transport Services.

The global shipowners' body says it believes that the unilateral application by France of these new CO2 reporting requirements to foreign ships cuts across the principles of global regulatory uniformity and “the primacy of IMO as the regulator of international shipping”. ICS says it has reminded France of the difficulties that would be created if other coastal states were to implement their own unilateral requirements for the reporting of CO2 emissions by ships.

ICS has suggested that France’s director general for maritime transport should advise that these requirements will not be enforced, pending the outcome of discussions on the monitoring and reporting of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions currently taking place at the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Source: Maritime London