MEPs get tough on sea crimes

The European Parliament on Tuesday took steps to make deliberate pollution of the sea a criminal offence.

MEPs voted through a proposal on safety at sea, modifying the original commission directive to include criminal sanctions for intentional polluters.

Anyone whose actions lead to maritime pollution – through intention or gross negligence – could now be treated as criminals and punished accordingly.

Conservative MEP and author of parliament’s report Peter Pex said he was “delighted” with the result: “I hope that transport ministers will now be convinced by the proposal, which has been approved by the parliament and the European Council”

The European Green party has also welcomed the result, with Jan Dhaene, Belgian independent MEP saying, "The Prestige disaster has taught us that in order to prevent further environmental contamination we need to be able to quickly identify polluters and adequately punish them”.

“We also need to be able to bring cases of illegal discharge at sea to the courts.”

Pex and Dhaene also both welcomed parliament’s support for a European coastguard to be set up to carry out surprise checks on EU coastlines.

Parliament now faces a stiff battle with the European Commission and EU transport ministers over its introduction of criminal law into the draft law.

The commission only mooted monetary sanctions in its original proposal, and transport ministers are thought to favour this as the least bureaucratic option.

But MEPs argued that a fine of a few thousand euro is not enough to deter the captain of a ship worth millions of euro from repeatedly dumping waste.

The proposals may have to be thrashed out between the parliament and council two or three times before a final result is reached.

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