The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 (Hong Kong Convention or the Convention) has not entered into force to date, as the conditions for entry into force set out in Article 17 of the Hong Kong Convention have not been completely met yet. It is expected to come into force soon. Turkey ratified the Convention in 2017. This article examines Turkish Legislation on the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships and provisions in the Convention as Turkey is one of the leading ship breaking countries despite the absence of any major relevant regulations on the subject currently. The only legislation in force is “Ship Breaking Regulation dated 2004”. 

The study aims to compare the Convention, which deals with the recycling of ships, and regulations on standards for ship recycling facilities as well as their inspections with Turkish Law practice. The standards regulated by the Convention regarding problematic matters and their applicability of them in Turkish Law are also discussed. The importance of ship breaking and ship recycling is increasing in line with development in the world shipping fleet. The economic benefits of ship breaking and recycling are undeniable, but these activities also have risks in terms of health and safety at work as well as protection of the environment. States operating in this sector including Turkey, a serious dilemma is occurred on ship recycling due to its risks and economic benefits: 

The ship recycling industry provides employment opportunities, but also includes activities that threaten health and safety at work. Although the ship recycling industry is called a “green industry” due to the role of recycling of scrap ships in maintaining the ecological balance, it is quite possible that the activities could be harmful to the environment. 

Ship recycling activities should be carried out according to certain standards, due to the risks of health and safety at work as well as environmental effects. Although the general principles and procedural regulations in the Convention related to such issues could be regarded as a milestone, the Convention has not completely solved the environmental risks, especially since it leaves the control mechanism to the state’s parties’ laws. It is evident that ship breaking and ship recycling activities in the world are mostly carried out by developing countries. 

The standards to be complied with are quite costly for developing countries. On the other hand, it is also apparent that developed countries do not carry out ship recycling activities due to high costs and risks, and export scrapped ships to developing countries. In this context, developing countries are leading in the ship recycling sector. However, it is undeniable that developing countries will not be able to fully comply with the health and environmental standards in order to achieve more economic benefits from ship recycling. Therefore, it would be appropriate for international regulations to include serious sanctions and not to leave full control to state parties. 

In addition, European Union Regulation No. 1257/2013, of 2013 in connection with the Convention, is also important in relation to Turkish law. Pursuant to Article 16 of the above Regulation, only ships flying the flag of European Union member states can be recycled by ship breaking facilities included in the “European List”. Facilities located in non-European Union states are required to get approval from the European Commission. As a non-European State, Turkey has eight facilities in the European List. As of 31st January 2018, the European Commission prohibits the shipbreaking of ships that have EU flag at facilities not included in the relevant EU List. 

Turkey has more than twenty-five companies in Aliağa/İzmir that work in the shipbreaking sector. Eight out of twenty-five Turkish companies are on the European List. Undoubtedly by entering into force of the Convention, changes will be occurred especially other shipbreaking facilities that are not in the European List. In this article, possible gaps of the current legislation and the changes that need to be done in accordance with the Convention will be evaluated.