Regulation (EU) 2025/2365

In force

This text since 12 Nov 2025law://eu/reg/2025/2365/rct_19@2026-11-13

(19)To address this issue from the perspective of maritime transport, the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee approved in 2024 MEPC.1/Circ.909. However, since those recommendations are not legally binding, the Union, in line with its obligation under the Treaties to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment, and to promote measures at international level to deal with worldwide environmental problems, should introduce binding rules through this Regulation to pioneer worldwide a higher level of environmental protection in this field. Shippers should ensure that plastic pellets are packed in good-quality packaging, that transport information is delivered, in a timely manner, to the operator, agent, and master of the seagoing vessel and that a special stowage request is duly completed. Operators, agents, and masters of seagoing vessels should, on the basis of the transport information received from the shippers, ensure that freight containers containing plastic pellets are properly stowed and secured so as to minimise hazards to the marine environment without impairing the safety of the seagoing vessel and persons on board. Specifically, freight containers containing plastic pellets should be stowed under deck wherever reasonably practicable or inboard in sheltered areas of exposed decks. These requirements complement the overall IMO and Union legal frameworks on the safety of maritime transport and the prevention of pollution from ships, in particular Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^note, which established a system to prevent accidents and pollution at sea taking into account the international legal rules.

Source: EUR-Lex, © European Union, 1998-2026. Reuse authorised under Decision 2011/833/EU.

Key facts

Type: Regulation · (EU) 2025/2365
Adopted: 12 Nov 2025
In force: 16 Dec 2025
Applies from: 17 Dec 2027
Applies from: 17 Dec 2028
Made by: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Official: EUR-Lex 32025R2365 · ELI

Topics

carriage of goods chemicals legislation environmental impact handling plastics plastic waste pollution control prevention of pollution supply chain Environment Pollution

History · 1 version

12 Nov 2025Reading

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Cited by 1: this act4 provisions
Cites 1: Directive 2002/59/EC

Defined terms · 16

Show every defined term

agent
means any person mandated or authorised to supply information on behalf of the operator;
authorised representative
means a natural or legal person established in the Union who has been designated by a written mandate from a non-EU carrier pursuant to Article 4, to act on its behalf in relation to specific tasks with regard to the obligations laid down in Article 3(2) and (3), Article 5(6), third subparagraph, and Article 15(1);
certifier
means any of the following natural or legal persons:
competent authority
means an authority or a body designated by a Member State to carry out its obligations under this Regulation;
conformity assessment
means the process demonstrating whether an installation fulfils the applicable rules of this Regulation and of the delegated acts adopted on the basis thereof;
economic operator
means any natural or legal person who operates or controls in whole or in part the installation, or, where this is provided for in national law, to whom decisive economic power over the technical functioning of the installation has been delegated;
installation
means any premises, structure, location, site or place within which one or more economic activities involving the handling of plastic pellets are carried out;
large enterprise
means an enterprise that is not a micro-, small or medium-sized enterprise;
loss
means a one-off or prolonged escape of plastic pellets to the environment at any stage of the supply chain, either from the installation’s boundary or from road vehicles, rail wagons, inland waterway vessels or seagoing vessels leaving or calling at a port of a Member State, transporting plastic pellets;
micro-, small or medium-sized enterprise
means a micro-, small or medium-sized enterprise within the meaning of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC;
non-EU carrier
means any natural or legal person established in a third country, engaged in the transport of plastic pellets as part of its economic activity in the Union by using road vehicles, rail wagons or inland waterway vessels;
operator
means the owner or manager of a seagoing vessel;
permit
means a written authorisation, issued by the relevant competent authority, to operate an installation.
plastic pellets
means a mass of polymer-containing material, regardless of its shape, form, or size, that is produced for moulding in plastic product manufacturing operations, irrespective of its actual use;
shipper
means any natural or legal person by whom or in whose name or on whose behalf a contract of carriage of goods has been concluded with any natural or legal person engaged in the transport of plastic pellets as part of its economic activity by using seagoing vessels;
spill
means a one-off or prolonged escape of plastic pellets within an installation’s boundaries or within road vehicles, rail wagons, or inland waterway vessels transporting plastic pellets from primary containment;