A Study on EU Regulatory Regimes concerning the Prevention of Vessel-Source Marine Pollution : What Lessons Can Be Learned ?

Sea areas where need special attention for the protection of the marine environment from various pollutants are widely distributed throughout the European Regions. In the meantime, the EU has adopted various directives to implement International Maritime Organization (IMO) instruments effectively and uniformly over foreign vessels in European waters so as to ensure ships’ safety and prevent vessel-source pollution. These EU regulatory regimes are conducive to maximizing the legal effect for the implementation of IMO instruments. In addition, the EU has exerted a great influence on the decision-making process of the IMO in adopting regulatory instruments for the prevention of vessel-source marine pollution due to the region’s strong commercial leverage in the global shipping industry. The study of the EU regulatory instruments over the prevention of vessel-source marine pollution will give the states that needs regional cooperative regimes a good example such as how they can establish regional cooperation to effectively prevent vessel-source pollution in sharing sea areas.