is often made in international waters, where the convention has no jurisdiction. The Hong Kong Convention is a compromise. It allows ships to be exported for recycling, as long as various stipulations are met: All water-craft must have an inventory and every shipyard needs to publish a recycling plan to protect the environment. The Hong Kong Convention was adopted in 2009 but with few countries signing the agreement. However, nearly 96 of the 120 ship recycling yards in India have achieved Statements of Compliance (SoC) with the Hong Kong Convention by various IACS class societies—including ClassNK, IRClass, Lloyd's Register and RINA. In addition, a yard in Chattogram, Bangladesh has also become the first one to achieve an SoC by ClassNK in January 2020, having first achieved a RINA SoC in 2017. Furthermore, to encourage the growth of India's vital ship recycling sector, in November 2019 the Government of India acceded to the Hong Kong Convention for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships and became the only South Asian country and major ship recycling destination so far to take such a positive step. In March 2012 the European Commission proposed tougher regulations to ensure all parties take responsibility. Under these rules, if a vessel has a European flag, it must be disposed of in a shipyard on an EU "green list". The facilities would have to show that they are compliant, and it would be regulated internationally in order to bypass corrupt local authorities. However, there is evidence of ship owners changing the flag to evade the regulations. China's scrap industry has vehemently protested against the proposed European regulations. Although Chinese recycling businesses are less damaging than their South Asian counterparts, European and American ship-breakers comply with far more stringent legislation. That being said, ship recycling yard owners have made investments into upgrading their recycling facilities and safety infrastructure in the recent past, including 100% impervious floors with drainage systems, setting up of hazardous waste processing facilities like the Common Hazardous Wastes Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (CHW-TSDF) in Alang, and adherence to various internationally recognised conventions. The ship recycling industry also produces about 4.5 million tons of re-rollable steel per year. That comes up to nearly 2% of total steel produced in India, coming from a process that does not exploit natural resources and thereby saves non-renewable natural resources and energy. Recycling of one ton of scrap saves 1.1