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5 WMU J. Maritime Aff. 1 (2006)

handle is hein.journals/wnujlmti5 and id is 1 raw text is: WMU JOURNAL OF MARITIME AFFAIRS, 2006, VOL. 5, NO.1, 1-3 International Maritime Legislation - the EU and Enforcing Resolutions Editorial There are frequent debates concerning the quantity of international shipping regu- lations. By some accounts, it is considered to be one of the most highly regulated international industries in the world. Not only are new rules being devised to ensure safety at sea and to better protect the environment, the existing rules are being revised and where necessary updated to reflect changes in policy. These are determined by national interest, public opinion, the effects of technical progress, and finally, the effectiveness of previous experience in applying existing law. The strengthening of rules in general at internationallevel has been highlighted by a number of well adver- tised incidents and has raised some very serious environmental concerns - these go beyond the more traditional aspects of safety and commercial implications that were discussed at the international and EU level. The European Union today consists of twenty-five Member States who benefit from shipping, within the Union and with the rest of the world. All European Union Member Sates are flag states, some only have tiny fleets under their flag, and others control large fleets such as Greece, Cyprus and Malta. All are members of IMO. 90% of all imports and exports to the EU are carried by sea, the maritime cluster in the EU is estimated to employ 3 Million people directly, the EU share of world tonnage (ships flying the flag of an EU Member State) is estimated to be 25% and almost 30% of world trade by sea has an EU port of origin or destination. Finally, out of the 23 major oil spill incidents that have occurred in the world in the past 40 years, 11 have happened in European waters. From these statistics (that were compiled by the European Commission) it is clear that the European Union has a very large interest in maritime affairs, covering all aspects of the industry. It is for these reasons that the European Regulator has been active. The current EU laws in place that deal with the maritime sector are, for the great part, based on the rules (Conventions, Resolutions and Codes) developed in the framework of IMO. It is one thing to agree to a set of rules and standards, it is another to implement them and enforce them correctly. The advantage of EU law is that it is binding and must be respected. The European Commission supervises the proper implementation of EU law and has the power to start legal proceedings against Mem- ber States not fulfilling their obligations. It is in this way that the EU has become a region where the international maritime safety rules are most strictly implemented and enforced. This is the general approach adopted by the EU when dealing with maritime policy. Where specific issues exist that are of concern to the EU Member Sates or a sector within the EU, then the Commission may call for additional measures depending on