Amendment to EC sulphur regulations to align them with MARPOL Annex VI – Date: 04.12.2012.

With effect from 18 December, 2012, the EC Sulphur Directive 1999/32/EC is amended by Directive

2012/33/EU in order to align the EC regulations on sulphur content of marine fuels with the IMO regulations.

The key elements of the amendment are as follows:

1. The EC regulations are aligned with the revised Annex VI to MARPOL, both inside and outside EU

SOx Emission Control Areas (SECAs)*

2. The 0.50% limit outside EU SECAs will apply in EC waters from 1 January, 2020, regardless of the

outcome of the IMO fuel availability review, which is due by 2018.

3. Emission abatement methods (e.g. exhaust gas cleaning systems, mixtures of marine fuel and boil-

off gas, and biofuels) are permitted for ships of all flags in EC waters as long as they continuously

achieve reductions of SOx emissions which are at least equivalent to using compliant marine fuels.

The requirements are summarised in the table below.

Maximum fuel sulphur

content (by mass) outside

EU SECAs*

Maximum fuel sulphur content

(by mass) inside

EU SECAs*

a) All ships excluding b) and c) below

3.50%** from 18 June 20140.50% from 1 Jan 2020

1.00% until 31 Dec 20140.10% from 1 Jan 2015

b) Passenger ships on regular services

to/from EC ports excluding c) below

1.50% until 1 Jan 2020 0.50% from 1 Jan 2020

Same as above

c) Ships at berth in EC ports 0.10% 0.10%

* The current EU SOx SECAs are the Baltic Sea, North Sea and English Channel.

** This is referred to as the "General Standard" within the regulation. This can only be exceeded for fuels

supplied to ships using scrubbers operating in closed mode.