Shipping 2025

ITALY LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Giorgio Berlingieri, Alberto Massimo Rossi, Alfredo Lizio, Alberto Torrazza, Simone Gaggero and Filippo Cassola, ADVANT Nctm

• the International Convention for the Preven - tion of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (MARPOL) and the Protocol of 1997; • the International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties, 1969 and the Interven - tion Protocol of 1973; • the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC), 1969 and the Protocols of 1976 and 1992; • the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (the “OPRC Convention”), 1990; • the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (the “London Convention”), 1972 and the London Convention Protocol of 1996; • the International Convention on the Estab - lishment of an International Fund for Com - pensation for Oil Pollution Damage (the “IFC Convention”), 1971 and the Supplementary Fund Protocol; and • the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage (the “Bun - kers Convention”), 2001. As a result of several amendments and supple - ments to Legislative Decree No 152 of 2006 (the “Environmental Code”), Italy adapted its legisla - tion in 2014 by issuing Legislative Decree No 112 of 2014 to comply with Directive 2012/33/ EU. The Environmental Code imposes a general clean-up obligation on the party liable for pol - lution of the sea. If this obligation is not met, remediation or depollution is carried out by the public administration, which can claim the rel - evant costs from the liable party. Directive (EU) 2019/883 has established a framework against the negative effects from dis - charges of waste from ships by requiring mem - ber states to provide adequate waste reception

facilities in all ports, including recreational ports and marinas. Legislative Decree No 197 of 2021 transposing the Directive entered into force on 15 December 2021 and should grant a reduc - tion of the costs normally associated with the reception of waste from ships, including cargo residues. This service is generally compulsory in Italian ports, with a few exceptions, and is generally supplied at a cost that is universally considered excessive by customers. On 13 October 2022, with a view to defining the organisational and co-ordination measures nec - essary to ensure an adequate response to the severity of pollution, and to reduce and minimise impacts on the marine ecosystem, the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (former - ly the Ministry for Ecological Transition) adopt - ed Ministerial Decree No 389 of 2022, aimed at approving the “Emergency response plan for the defence of the sea and coastal areas from pollu - tion due to hydrocarbons and other hazardous and toxic substances”. In terms of wreck removal, Italy has not rati - fied the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007. Therefore, Arti - cle 73 of the Italian Navigation Code will apply in this matter, which gives broad discretion to maritime authorities to issue orders for wreck removal. Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 entered into force in 2013 and has been applicable since 31 December 2018. It sets out new rules on ship recycling by providing common evalua - tion standards in line with the Hong Kong Inter - national Convention for the Safe and Environ - mentally Sound Recycling of Ships 2009, even though the latter has not yet entered into force in Italy.

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