BIMCO has strengthened support for shipowners and buyers navigating Europe’s evolving climate regulations by adopting dedicated FuelEU Maritime and EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) clauses for use in sale-and-purchase memoranda of agreement (MoAs).
The world’s largest shipping association said the new clauses bring much-needed clarity to responsibilities related to fuel-compliance balances, emissions reporting, and allowance surrender during vessel handovers — areas that have grown increasingly intricate under the EU’s latest environmental rules.
“Regulations such as FuelEU Maritime and the EU ETS are complex and reshape our industry. Contractual clarity is essential,” said Stinne Taiger Ivø, BIMCO’s deputy secretary general and director of contracts. “The new clauses offer parties the tools they need to manage compliance obligations and avoid uncertainty during ship transactions.”
Under the FuelEU Maritime clause, sellers must ensure the vessel is compliant at the time of delivery, disclose verified compliance balances for earlier reporting periods, and issue a partial compliance report immediately after handover. The clause also introduces mechanisms for price adjustments depending on whether the ship holds a surplus or deficit in compliance balance, while limiting the ability to borrow from future periods before delivery.
After transfer, buyers assume full responsibility, including banking, borrowing, and pooling of FuelEU compliance balances.
The new ETS Clause outlines how greenhouse gas emission allowances are divided between parties. Sellers must fulfil all reporting obligations up to the point of delivery, provide a verified partial emissions report post-handover, and surrender allowances for pre-delivery emissions. Buyers take over all ETS responsibilities from delivery, with an indemnity clause safeguarding them from any liabilities arising from a seller’s non-compliance.
BIMCO noted that the clauses are structured to be compatible not only with the EU ETS but also with emerging emissions-trading frameworks in other regions.
“With this latest addition, BIMCO is expanding its portfolio of carbon clauses to support the industry through regulatory change,” said Nicholas Fell, chair of BIMCO’s documentary committee. He added that the clauses are practical, consensus-driven and developed with broad industry input to ensure operational effectiveness.
