The EU Sulphur Directive: A Review, From a Company Perspective, of the Recent 2012/33/EU Amendment.

Abstract

This study, carried out in early 2016, considers the approaches taken by a European based shipping company in relation to complying with the most recent amendments to the EU Sulphur Directive 2012/33/EU, highlighting problems and issues the company and wider shipping community have with the Directive.

The requirements of the changes to the Directive have been in place for just over a year. This research looks at how a case study company went about the planning, testing, and installation processes in order to comply with the new legislation in the Directive. This work also covers how the company is working, a year since the legislation became active, giving insight into what it is actually like for companies to work under a change in legislation.

This study uses qualitative research to generate a more human opinion approach to issues surrounding the Directive, and concludes with suggestions on how the author and the case study company believes that the Directive could be improved.

It was determined that the main issues relate to the over complicated approach of the Directive, which is, therefore, complicated to understand but necessary to follow in order to comply with the rules.

The fact the EU made the legislation a Directive results in each member state setting its own rules to be applied to what is a cross-border industry.

These issues in the policy making process could be solved by the EU improving the Directive in ways
which are discussed in the study.