Web alert: Ecological extortion in Ukraine

Members are advised that there is an on-going issue in Ukrainian ports of so called ‘ecological racketeering’, in which bogus ecological inspection officials use spurious regulations to attempt to obtain bribes from unsuspecting ships' masters.

The usual form this activity takes is that fake ecological inspection officials board a vessel during loading / discharge and take samples of the ship's ballast water hoping to take advantage of the master's lack of familiarity with Ukrainian environmental law to extort fines or, more correctly, bribes. It should be noted that, whilst such problems are still occurring, they are (according to local sources) becoming less frequent. Members should, however, remain vigilant and ensure that whilst their vessels are in the Ukraine, under no circumstances are ‘ecological inspectors’ admitted onboard the vessel or allowed to inspect any of the vessel's certification, environmental or otherwise. Masters should be aware that port state control checks of this nature should only be conducted by officially designated ‘Port State Control’ officers.

类别: Pollution