The European Union is entitled to set tougher standards and criminal penalties on sea pollution than measures included in international conventions, the EU's highest court said on Tuesday. The European Court of Justice dismissed a challenge to the 27-nation bloc's marine pollution laws by an international coalition of ship operators. Shipping interests, including tanker owners group Intertanko, had argued that the EU directive on ship-source pollution contravened two sets of international maritime laws. Ship owners said the directive sought to criminalise accidental spillages and questioned whether the EU had the right to impose criminal liability on foreign-flagged ships. "The court has concluded that the validity of the directive cannot be assessed in the light of either the Marpol Convention or the Convention on the Law of the Sea," an ECJ statement said. The EU's tough maritime laws seek to protect coastal tourism and fisheries from minor discharges from shipping, as well as catastrophic oil spills like the Prestige off Spain in 2002 and the Erika off France in 1999. (Reporting by Pete Harrison, editing by Paul Taylor) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE