Director’s meeting at the European Commission

On the invitation of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move), the Director, accompanied by the Head of the External Relations and Conference Department, attended a meeting on 27 June 2014 with Christine Berg, Head of Unit for Maritime Safety, some of her staff as well as a representative from the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV).
The main agenda item was the ongoing review of the application of the European Environmental Liability Directive (ELD), ten years after its adoption. The discussions covered the input provided by the IOPC Funds’ Secretariat on amounts paid under the 1992 CLC and Fund Conventions (one of the exceptions to the ELD’s scope) for the costs of preventive measures and impairment of the environment following oil pollution incidents from tankers since 2002.
The meeting was an excellent opportunity to exchange information about the concept of environmental damage and how it is covered under the ELD and the CLC/Fund regime respectively. It was the first time that such a meeting had taken place and it was agreed that further cooperation between the two organisations would be very beneficial, with follow up discussions on the matter to take place in the coming months. The ELD review is due to be completed by early 2015.