European Parliament 13 December 2002, WRITTEN QUESTION E-3591/02 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. The ERIKA legislative packages and the US Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

More generally, the Commission believes that the law of the sea is currently too much in favour of the right to free navigation, at the expense of coastal States’ interests. These States must be able to defend themselves against the threat of manifestly sub-standard ships.