The European Regulation No. 1257/2013 on ship recycling has achieved its objectives, but its effectiveness has largely compromised by shipowners who change the flag of from that of an EU Member State to a flag just before it was demolished for take advantage of the sale of these ships to shipyards in Asia southern. This is highlighted by an evaluation of the regulation of the European Commission published in recent days, which notes that objectives of the Regulation have been achieved as it is a European list of waste recycling facilities has been established authorised ships and the Regulation has helped to raise the Environmental and social standards in recycling activities ships, also becoming a point of reference both within the and outside the European Union.

If the evaluation denounces the practice of many shipowners of change the flag of their ships to scrap them in the shipyards Asians, falling outside the scope of the Regulation examination of the standard also highlights that the inventory hazardous materials on ships, which the Regulation requires to keep on board ships and update throughout their entire life of the ship, is still too often absent during the life of the operational operation of the ship and is often insufficient even in the ship recycling phase.

Presenting the evaluation of the Regulation, the Commission European Union recalled that next June it will come into force the Hong Kong Convention which lays down international standards for the recycling of ships which in some parts are less stringent than those established by the European regulation.

On the occasion of the presentation of the evaluation, the The EU Commission has also adopted the fourteenth edition of the European List of Ship Recycling Facilities in the to which a Dutch shipyard and a Turkish shipyard have been added, while three shipyards are located in Latvia, Lithuania and Turkey have been removed from the list. Now the European list includes 43 structures, of which 31 in Europe (EU, Norway and the United Kingdom), 11 in Turkey and one in the United States. In Italy, the only construction site included in the list is that of the Genoese San Giorgio del Porto.