Bonn Agreement — dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances, including air pollution caused by shipping

SUMMARY OF:

Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (Bonn Agreement)

Decision 84/358/EEC — conclusion of the Bonn Agreement

Decision (EU) 2021/176 — conclusion of the amendments to the Bonn Agreement with regard to the extension of its scope of application and on Spain’s accession to the agreement

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE AGREEMENT AND THE DECISIONS?

The agreement sets up a system of cooperation among its contracting parties to deal with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances.
Decision 84/358/EEC concludes the agreement on behalf of the European Economic Community (now the EU).
In 2019 contracting parties agreed to the accession of Spain and to extend the scope of the agreement to air pollution from ships as regulated under Annex VI to the International Maritime Organisation’s International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Convention). Decision (EU) 2021/176 marks the conclusion by the EU concerning the extension of the agreement’s scope and Spain’s accession.

KEY POINTS

Contracting parties

The contracting parties to the Bonn Agreement, as most recently amended in 2021, are the governments of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union.

Sea areas covered by the agreement

The agreement concerns the greater North Sea and its wider approaches – one of the busiest sea areas in the world. Since Spain’s accession to the agreement, it covers:

the North Sea proper, southwards of latitude 61° 0'00.00" N;
the Skagerrak, the southern limit of which is determined east of the Skaw by the latitude 57° 44'43.00" N;
the Bay of Biscay, bounded on the south and west by the line defined in Part I of the annex to the agreement;
other waters, comprising the Irish Sea, the Celtic Sea, the Malin Sea, the Great Minch, the Little Minch, part of the Norwegian Sea, and parts of the north-east Atlantic, bounded on the west and north by the line defined in Part II of the annex to the agreement.

Scope of application

Building on an earlier agreement signed in 1969 which covered pollution from spills of crude oil, the 1984 Bonn Agreement also covered spills of other harmful substances polluting or threatening to pollute the sea in the North Sea area.

In 2019, the contracting parties decided to amend the agreement to cover cooperation on surveillance in respect of the requirements of Annex VI to the MARPOL Convention . Annex VI introduces stricter sulphur limits for marine fuel in sulphur oxide emission control areas (which includes the North Sea). Directive (EU) 2016/802 on reducing the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels incorporates the main changes in international law on preventing air pollution from ships into EU law (see summary).

Areas of work

The contracting parties agree:

to cooperate actively among themselves;
to jointly develop and set guidelines for the practical, operational and technical aspects of joint action;
to share information about
- the national organisation which deals with the type of pollution covered by the agreement;
- the competent authority responsible for receiving and dispatching reports of such pollution and for dealing with questions concerning measures of mutual assistance;
- their national means for avoiding or dealing with such pollution, which they could make available for international assistance;
- new ways in which such pollution may be avoided and about new effective measures to deal with it;
- major pollution incidents of this kind which they have dealt with.

Reporting of incidents and mutual assistance

The contracting parties agree to notify each other of any casualty or of the presence of oil or other harmful substances present in the North Sea which are likely to constitute a serious threat to the coast or other related interest of any other contracting party. Together, they have developed a standard notification format for reporting pollution incidents.
A party facing a pollution incident may request assistance from the other parties. As a general rule, the requesting contracting party reimburses the parties that come to its assistance for costs of any action taken.

Implementation

The contracting parties implement the agreement by:

keeping their zones of responsibility under surveillance for threats of marine pollution, including coordinating aerial and satellite surveillance;
alerting each other to any threats;
adopting common operational approaches so that they can rely on each other to achieve the necessary standards of prevention and clean-up;
supporting each other (when requested) in response operations;
sharing research and development;
carrying out joint exercises.

Budget and secretariat

Each contracting party contributes 2.5% towards the agreement’s annual expenditure and the balance of the expenditure is shared among contracting parties (other than the EU) in proportion to their gross national product.

The agreement’s secretariat is based in London.

DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE

The 1984 Bonn agreement entered into force on 28 June 1984.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

About the Bonn Agreement (Bonn Agreement website).

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (Bonn Agreement) (OJ L 188, 16.7.1984, pp. 9-16)

Council Decision 84/358/EEC of 28 June 1984 concerning the conclusion of the Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (OJ L 188, 16.7.1984, pp. 7-8)

Council Decision (EU) 2021/176 of 5 February 2021 on the conclusion of the amendments to the Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (Bonn Agreement) with regard to the extension of the scope of application of that Agreement and on the accession of the Kingdom of Spain to that Agreement (OJ L 54, 16.2.2021, pp. 1-2)