# Council Decision (EU) 2019/1727 of 7 October 2019 on the position to be adopted on behalf of the European Union at the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Bonn Agreement with regard to the Ministerial Declaration and the Bonn Agreement Strategic Action Plan (BASAP) 2019-2025 annexed thereto, Attachment

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

DRAFT Ministerial Declaration
Bonn, Germany 11 October 2019
WE THE MINISTERS AND THE MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, responsible for dealing with pollution of the Greater North Sea and its Approaches by oil and other harmful substances have met in Bonn on 11 October 2019 for the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Bonn Agreement in the presence of Intergovernmental Organisations and Observers from neighbouring regions;
ACKNOWLEDGING 50 years of successful cooperation within the framework of the Bonn Agreement and RECOGNISING the common benefit of further invigorating our cooperation to prevent, prepare for and respond to accidental and illegal marine pollution from maritime activities in the Greater North Sea and its Approaches;
WELCOMING the accession of Spain to the Bonn Agreement and the realignment of the Zone of Responsibility between France and Spain, following which the scope of the Bonn Agreement maritime area will include the Bay of Biscay;
AIMING to strengthen the protection of our coastal and marine environment from marine pollution as a result of activities in the Greater North Sea and its Approaches and the way in which we cooperate on pollution prevention, preparedness and response;
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the role of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in regulating global shipping to protect the marine environment and human health, the development of an Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union and relevant EU legislation in relation to marine pollution and incidents;
CONTINUING to coordinate the national efforts at a (sub-)regional scale, for the benefit of all and considering the reporting obligations by the Contracting Parties;
MAKING USE of widely accepted information systems that are defined as standard within competent international organisations;
NOTING both the continuing growth of maritime transport and other maritime activities such as offshore oil and gas exploitation and the fact that, despite the decrease in the number of observed spills during recent years, risks will always remain;
Have ADOPTED the following joint Declaration:
In view of the above and as a strong commitment to pursue our vision, we attest the re-invigorated efforts to accomplish agreed objectives and to achieve better prevention, preparedness and response to marine pollution in the Greater North Sea and its Approaches and have ADOPTED the Bonn Agreement Strategic Action Plan 2019-2025, as in Annex 1, setting out ambitious strategic aims, operational objectives and actions for their implementation for the period 2019-2025.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2019/1727/attachment/1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2019-1727/attachment-1
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.