Activites

• #X020
• 2004/06/10 Council Meeting
• 2004/04/29 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 2004/725
  • OJ L 129 29.04.2004, p. 0006-0091
• 2004/03/31 Final act signed
• 2004/03/31 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2573
• 2004/03/22 Council Meeting
• 2004/03/22 Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
• 2003/11/19 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0499/2003 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Rosa MIGUELEZ RAMOS (PES, Spain), making many amendments to the Commission's proposal. (Please see the summary dated 04/11/03). In the debate, Members were concerned about the financial consequences for the maritime sector. They argued that the effective and standard application of measures under this policy raised important questions in relation to its funding. Funding certain additional measures ought not to give rise to distortion of competition. Commissioner Loyola de PALACIO accepted Parliament's demand that the Commission should immediately undertake a study, intended to address in particular the way financing is shared between the public authorities and the operators. An amendment was also adopted stating that the Member States should, after a mandatory security risk assessment, decide to which extent they will apply, by 1 July 2007, the provisions of the regulation to different categories of ships operating certain domestic services, their companies and the port facilities serving them. In addition : - the term "malicious act" was deleted and a definition adopted for the substitute term "intentional unlawful act." - Member States must ensure, when ship security plans and port facility security plans are approved, that the plans contain appropriate provisions to ensure that the security of ships to which the regulation applies is not compromised by any ship or port interface or ship-to-ship activity with any ship which is not part of the Regulation. - Parliament deleted the provision stating that the European Maritime Agency will assist the Commission. Finally, a great number of more technical amendments were also adopted.�

• 2003/11/18 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2003/11/04 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0385/2003
• #X019
• 2003/10/09 Council Meeting
  • 2531
• #2515
• 2003/06/05 Council Meeting
  • 2515 summary

    The Council held a policy debate on a proposal for a Regulation aimed at enhancing security on board ships and in ship/port areas in the light of increased security risks following the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. It requested the Permanent Representatives Committee to proceed rapidly with the examination of the proposal, in the light of the positions expressed by delegations, with a view to enabling the Council to reach agreement preferably at its meeting on 9 and 10 October. The Commission's proposal, presented in May, is aimed at incorporating into Community legislation measures to suppress and prevent acts of terrorism against ships adopted last December by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The Council supported the objective of transposing the IMO measures by means of a Regulation. Concerns were however expressed that the ambitious scope proposed by the Commission could jeopardise implementation. Amongst ideas expressed by delegations to overcome this, that of extending the scope of the Regulation for domestic shipping to certain vessels and port facilities presenting higher risks, such as A-class passenger ships and cargo ships transporting oil or dangerous goods, met with broad support, as well as the idea of allowing more time for implementing these measures. The Council recognised the need for notification and examination by the Commission of bilateral and multilateral agreements on alternative security agreements. Concerns were however expressed that the procedure proposed would jeopardise implementation of the measures by 1 July 2004. The possibility of giving guidance by means of a model agreement identifying minimum security requirements, to be agreed at Community level, was also mentioned. A majority of delegations favoured the idea of a control mechanism. However some expressed concerns at having Commission inspections in fields related to public and national security. The precedent of inspections provided for in Regulation 2320/2002 on civil aviation security was noted as a possible basis for an agreement, bearing in mind also the particular characteristics of the maritime sector. The Council considered that the proposed Regulation is not the appropriate legal instrument for enlarging the functions of the European Maritime Safety Agency or the EU's Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. Most delegations expressed doubts on the appropriateness of considering at this stage an extension of EMSA's role when it has barely existed for three months and is not yet fully operational. Regarding committee procedures, several delegations expressed a preference for a specific committee dealing with security matters, as in the aviation sector. Some even suggested merging these two committees into a single transport security committee. The need for rapid agreement was moreover emphasised, given the implementation date of 1 July 2004 agreed by the IMO.�

• 2003/06/02 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2003/05/02 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2003)0229 summary

    OBJECTIVE: To enhance ship and port facility security. CONTENT: The European Union must develop all necessary means of dealing with the terrorist threat. However, despite a number of warnings, the shipping world has only very recently shown an interest in its security. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted two international instruments laying the foundations for a global system of maritime security at one of its diplomatic conferences on 12 December 2002: an amendment of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. These instruments apply from 1 July 2004 and require harmonised implementation within the Community. A Community regulation is therefore necessary to: - provide the Member States with the best possible conditions for the timely implementation of the new maritime security instruments adopted by the IMO Diplomatic Conference on 12 December 2002, - guarantee and monitor at Community level the achievement of the main objective of these international instruments, i.e. enhancing the security of ships and port facilities, - ensure uniform conditions throughout the European Union for access to and control of markets and activities associated with the maritime sector. In order to achieve these objectives, the proposed regulation, which essentially contains preventive measures, transposes Chapter XI-2 of the IMO SOLAS Convention and the ISPS Code, providing a basis for their harmonised interpretation and implementation, as well as Community monitoring, and extends some of their provisions to domestic maritime traffic. The regulation goes beyond the measures adopted by the IMO in that it: - makes mandatory certain provisions which have the status of recommendations, in order to raise the level of security sought and to avoid variations in interpretation between Member States; - details the arrangements to be made by Member States for ports only occasionally serving international traffic; - establishes the system of security checks prior to the entry of ships of whatever origin into a Community port, as well as that of security checks in the port; - calls for the nomination of a single national authority responsible for the security of ships and port facilities, and the adoption, for some arrangements under the regulation, of a timetable for early implementation compared with the dates laid down by the IMO agreement; - provides for a process of inspections, supervised by the Commission, to check the arrangements for monitoring and the implementation of national plans adopted pursuant to the regulation; - entrusts to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) the role of assisting the Commission in the performance of its tasks; - adapts various terms adopted in the IMO framework to the benefit of the national maritime traffic within Member States; - extends all the provisions of Chapter XI-2 of the SOLAS Convention and of Part A of the ISPS Code to include passenger ships engaged on domestic voyages during which they are required to be more than 20 nautical miles from the coast; - extends to other ships sailing nationally the requirements of the texts relating to undertaking safety evaluations, establishing safety plans, and designating safety agents for companies and for ships; it provides for adaptation of the procedures for ships on regular services; - provides for possible exemption, under strict conditions, for ships engaged on a scheduled service within a Member State or between two or more Member States. In the months to come, the Commission will: - present a proposal for a directive defining the complementary measures to be put in place in EU ports; - support, in conjunction with Member States, the work of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning increasing security in identifying mariners, and will take, as necessary, a legislative initiative in the matter, following the adoption of a new text by the ILO, planned for June 2003. Alongside this proposal, the Commission submitted a communication stressing the need to enhance the security of the entire maritime transport chain, from the supplier to the consumer. The communication goes further than the framework of ship and port installations security treated by the IMO, and opens the debate on the entirety of maritime transport. In particular it addresses port zones as a whole, the identification of seamen, and also the security of the whole intermodal transport chain. The Commission stresses the need for Member States to apply effectively the measures adopted by the international authorities in order to encourage third countries to recognise our levels of security and provide for similar measures.�

  • DG ['Energy and Transport'],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2003)0229
• Debate in Council: 2515
• Debate in Council: 2531
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A5-0385/2003
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0499/2003
• : Regulation 2004/725
• : OJ L 129 29.04.2004, p. 0006-0091

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)