International co-operation for combating marine pollution

Marine pollution places enormous demands on the national authorities responsible for responding to the incident and cleaning up the pollution damage. Often the resources required are beyond the means of a single country. Hence, a number of maritime states have concluded regional and bilateral agreements to render mutual assistance whenever a pollution incident threatens their coasts. Often, because of their geographical position, countries are members of more than one cooperation agreement.

The EU actively participates in international cooperation activities. It is a contracting party to all major regional conventions and agreements covering regional seas around Europe, such as:

• The Convention of 1974 and 1992 on the protection of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea area (Helsinki Convention).
• The Convention of 1976 for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea against pollution (Barcelona Convention).
• The Agreement of 1983 for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (Bonn Agreement).
• The Cooperation Agreement signed in 1990 for the protection of the coasts and waters of the North-East Atlantic against pollution (not in force yet).