Recital (19)

To address this issue from the perspective of maritime transport, the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee approved in 2024 MEPC.1/Circ.909. However, since those recommendations are not legally binding, the Union, in line with its obligation under the Treaties to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment, and to promote measures at international level to deal with worldwide environmental problems, should introduce binding rules through this Regulation to pioneer worldwide a higher level of environmental protection in this field. Shippers should ensure that plastic pellets are packed in good-quality packaging, that transport information is delivered, in a timely manner, to the operator, agent, and master of the seagoing vessel and that a special stowage request is duly completed. Operators, agents, and masters of seagoing vessels should, on the basis of the transport information received from the shippers, ensure that freight containers containing plastic pellets are properly stowed and secured so as to minimise hazards to the marine environment without impairing the safety of the seagoing vessel and persons on board. Specifically, freight containers containing plastic pellets should be stowed under deck wherever reasonably practicable or inboard in sheltered areas of exposed decks. These requirements complement the overall IMO and Union legal frameworks on the safety of maritime transport and the prevention of pollution from ships, in particular Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, which established a system to prevent accidents and pollution at sea taking into account the international legal rules.