EnglishOSPAR COMMISSION TO BAN SCRUBBER WASH WATER DISCHARGES FROM EXHAUST GAS CLEANING SYSTEMS (EGCS)
Published: 14 July 2025
It was announced at the most recent Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Commission that the contracting countries will ban the discharges of waste from both open and closed loop EGCS, commonly referred to as scrubbers.
The ban on discharges will take place in a staged approach, initially for open loop EGCS from July 2027, followed by closed loop EGCS in January 2029.
Although the ban presently applies only to internal waters and ports, further studies will be conducted between now and 2027 to consider extending this ban to include countries territorial waters also.
The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (the OSPAR Convention) has 16 contracting parties (15 European Countries and the European Union), and its current area of application is shown in the below diagram. Note that the same meeting agreed to enlarge the coverage area of the Convention to include the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores in due course.
EGCS or scrubber discharges are subject to various restrictions in ports and countries. The Club has a list showing where we have been advised of restrictions being in place that can found here.
SOURCE: https://www.ospar.org/convention/the-north-east-atlantic
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