Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972 (London Convention)
Date of signature: 29 December 1972
Entry into force: 30 August 1975
Geographical Scope: All marine waters, other than the internal waters of States
Contracting Parties: Status of ratifications, as of October 2008
What are the aims of the Convention?
The Convention entered into force in 1975 and was the first international agreement to provide protection to the marine environment from the deliberate disposal at sea of wastes and other matter. In the 1990s, Contracting Parties to the Convention decided that the Convention required modernisation, and a new approach to waste management at sea was developed in the form of the 1996 Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972 (London Protocol). This Protocol has now entered into force and will eventually replace the Convention (see below). The Convention requires Contracting Parties to prevent the dumping of waste and other matter into the seas, where it is 'liable to create hazards to human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea' (Article 1). The Convention places an absolute prohibition upon the dumping of wastes or other matter listed in Annex I, and requires a prior special permit to be obtained in order to dump those listed in Annex II. All other substances may be dumped, but require a prior general permit issued in accordance with Annex III. The Convention, unlike its later Protocol, does not refer to the seabed in its text; reference is instead made to dumping at sea.
The definitions of 'waste' and 'dumping' under the Convention
'Wastes or other matter' have a very broad definition under the Convention, which encompasses 'any material and substance of any kind, form or description'. The definition of 'dumping' in the Convention is the same as the one employed by UNCLOS: any deliberate disposal at sea of wastes or other matter from vessels, aircraft, platforms or other man-made structures (or of the vessels, aircraft, platforms or other man-made structures themselves). Like UNCLOS, Article III of the Convention provides two exemptions from the definition of dumping:
Where waste is disposed of, at sea, during the 'normal operations' of vessels, aircraft, platforms or other man-made structures. This exemption does not apply to waste or matter transported by or to vessels, aircraft, platforms or other structures operating for the purpose of disposal or derived from the treatment of such wastes; and
Placement of matter in the maritime area, which is 'for a purpose other than mere disposal', provided that placement is not contrary to the aims of the Convention.
Key legal issues concerning CCS
CO2 is not referred to in the Convention as a substance that cannot be dumped (Annex I) or that requires a special permit for dumping (Annex II). As a result, CO2 is not prohibited from being dumped and will require permitting under Annex III, which is discussed above.
In January 1996, 'industrial waste' was introduced into Annex I as a category of waste that may not be dumped. This category of waste encompasses 'waste materials generated by manufacturing or processing operations', but does not include a number of other substances listed in the subsection. It remains uncertain as to whether CO2 is to be included within this industrial waste category. The Convention's Scientific Group decided that CO2 derived from fossil fuels was to be considered an industrial waste. Although this decision was in accordance with the views of the UK Government, no consensus has been reached on this issue amongst the Contracting Parties to the Convention.
Whether CO2 is in fact industrial waste (Annex I) or falls under other substances (Annexes II and III), it may still fall outside the need for permitting under the Convention, because the definition of dumping contains two exceptions which may be applicable to CCS. The first occurs where waste is disposed of, at sea, during the 'normal operations' of vessels, aircraft, platforms or other man-made structures. This would suggest that activities in which CO2 is re-injected into the seabed following the normal operation of an installation, for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), enhanced gas recovery (EGR) or for separation, would be permissible under the Convention. The other exemption concerns the 'placement' of matter for purposes other than mere disposal. It may be suggested that where CO2 is injected for the purposes of EOR, EGR or to mitigate climate change, then this is beyond mere disposal of waste. There is, however, no international consensus as to whether CO2 storage may constitute placement, within the terms of the Convention.
The Convention does not refer to the seabed anywhere in its text, which would suggest that sub-seabed CO2 storage is not covered by the Convention. However, it has been noted that the UK Government has expressed a desire that the Convention be read in the context of current standards, laid down in the later Protocol, and incorporate sub-seabed CO2 storage (Purdy, 2007).
Article X of the Convention contains provisions which require Contracting Parties to develop procedures for the 'assessment of liability' arising from the dumping of waste. It is noted in this article that this is to be done in accordance with existing principles of international law regarding state responsibility for damage caused to the environment of other states.
Recent developments
In March 2006, the 1996 Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972 entered into force. The Protocol entered into force 30 days after its ratification by 26 countries, 15 of which had to be Contracting Parties to the original Convention (in the event, 21 were).
The Protocol's entry into force will see the Convention eventually superseded for those Parties to the Convention that have subsequently become Parties to the Protocol (see Article 23 of the Protocol). This means that, in effect, the two instruments will continue to apply in parallel until such time as more Parties ratify the Protocol.
Purdy, R., Geological Carbon Dioxide Storage and the Law, Chapter 4, in Gough, C. & Shackley, S. (eds.) in Capturing Carbon: The Prospects for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage in the UK, 2006, pp87-139, Ashgate.
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