ABSTRACT

The shipbreaking industry is partially regulated by international law relating to transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and their environmentally sound disposal. This chapter is dedicated to international regulatory development for safe and environmentally sound disposal of obsolete ships. It introduces the salient features of the Hong Kong Convention and discusses the critical legal debates presently surrounding this convention. The chapter also concisely analyse the 2013 European Union Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR). It particularly examines whether these new legal instruments will be able to play a meaningful role in ensuring environmental justice in the shipbreaking yards of developing countries. Although in its preamble the Hong Kong Convention makes mention of the precautionary principle, it blatantly disregards a cardinal principle of international and comparative environmental law – the polluter pays principle. The Hong Kong Convention in practice shifts the main responsibility for environmentally sound disposal of obsolete ships to developing country shipbreaking yards.