Following the Prestige incident, European Union Ministers committed themselves to building on the progress which had been made during the previous few years. To that end, a number of new measures were introduced. The Council of Ministers and Parliament have adopted a proposal by the Commission to further accelerate the phasing-out of single hull tankers and to ban the carriage of heavy grades of fuel oil in single hull tankers. Member states have requested the IMO to introduce similar arrangements to be applied internationally. A proposal by the Commission concerning sanctions for offences involving pollution of the marine environment is under consideration at EU official working group level.