Home > Verifavia News
> The Shipping MRV regulation is adopted at the European Parliament!

The Shipping MRV regulation is adopted at the European Parliament!

11/05/2014



On 16 April 2014, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission's proposal for a regulation on the monitoring, reporting and verification of CO2 emissions from maritime transport (the 'Shipping MRV' regulation).

The European Parliament voted a number of amendments which only brought minor modifications to the European Commission's original proposal from June 2013.

The Parliament rejected the key amendments proposed by the Environmental Committee on 30 January 2014, namely the reduction of the threshold to include ships from 400 T gross weight (instead of 5,000 T) and the inclusion of other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (not only the CO2 but also NOx emissions).

The main technical differences between the Commission's proposal and the text voted at European parliament are:
 
  • Fish catching or processing ships are no longer excluded from the Shipping MRV regulation
  • The amount of cargo carried shall no longer be monitored and reported
  • Monitoring may be suspended during periods during which a ship is engaged in emergency situations including life-saving activities
  • Only average energy efficiency metrics expressed in fuel consumption per distance and CO2 emissions per distance shall be reported
  • Per-voyage reporting excludes deep sea shipping calling a series of EU ports for which the EU leg should be considered as one voyage and ships performing multiple voyages per day.



Before the Regulation can enter into force, there needs to be an agreement by the European Council at a Qualified Majority Vote (QMV). Consequently, the next step is for the Council to finalise its position, which may be done through a 'Common position' adopted by QMV, after which the Regulation goes back to the Parliament for a second reading, probably in fall or winter 2014-2015. 

> Read the 30 January 2014 proposed amendments (ENVI)
> Read the 16 April 2014 adopted amendments
> See the procedure file
  Back to all Verifavia News