Activites

• 2004/04/30 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 2004/789
  • OJ L 138 30.04.2004, p. 0019-0023
• 2004/04/21 Final act signed
• 2004/04/21 End of procedure in Parliament
• 2004/04/06 Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
• 2004/01/13 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0010/2004 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution adopting several amendments to the proposal. The rapporteur was Bernard POIGNANT (PES, F). A majority of Members was against the proposal to display the emblem of the European Union in a corner of their flags for ships sailing under the flag of a EU Member State. The two amendments adopted by the Transport Committee (please see the previous document), were rejected in plenary with respectively 369 votes against, 137 in favour and 6 abstentions and with 458 votes against, 44 in favour and 5 abstentions. The proposal to integrate the EU stars onto the national flags had already been heavily opposed in the UK. The amendments adopted include the following: - a new recital states that a Member State receiving a ship must nonetheless retain the option of applying rules which differ in their scope or nature from those referred to in the conventions listed in the regulation; - ships which have been refused access to European ports under Directive 95/21/EC or which have been consigned more than once following an inspection in the port during the three years preceding the application for registration should not be able to benefit from the possibility of being transferred under the simplified system to another register within the Community; - Parliament amended the definitions of "Conventions", "certificates" and "requirements"; - the definition of "cargo ship" was amended to mean a ship which is not a passenger ship; - the definitions may be amended in accordance with the stipulated procedure to reflect international developments, including those within the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and to make the regulation more effective in the light of experience and technical progress, provided that such amendments do not extend the scope of the Regulation. - Parliament stated that the regulation should not apply to ships delivered after completion of construction which do not hold valid non-provisional certificates issued by the Member State of the loosing register. Nor should it apply to ships that have been refused access to Member States' ports in accordance with Directive 95/21/EC during the three years preceding the application for registration or to ships that have been consigned more than once during the three years preceding the application for registration as a result of an inspection in a port of a signatory State to the 1982 Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control. Member States must nevertheless consider applications pertaining to these ships in due form and in good time. Furthermore, the regulation would not apply either: 1) to warships or ships intended for the transport of troops or to other ships belonging to a Member State and used exclusively for non-commercial government purposes; 2) to ships that are not mechanically propelled, or to wooden ships of primitive construction, to yachts used for noncommercial purposes or to fishing vessels; 3) to cargo ships of less than 500 gross register tons. Finally, Parliament deleted the maximum period of three months for the suspension of a registration for reasons of security.�

• 2004/01/12 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• #2551
• 2003/12/05 Council Meeting
  • 2551
• 2003/11/25 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0413/2003
• 2003/09/01 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2003/08/05 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2003)0478 summary

    PURPOSE : to eliminate technical barriers to the transfer of cargo and passenger ships between the registers of the Member States while, at the same time, ensuring a high level of ship safety and environmental protection, in accordance with international conventions. CONTENT : the main aim of the proposal is to strengthen certain aspects of the regime set out by Council Regulation 613/91/EEC, in the light of the experience gathered with its implementation. For legal clarity and simplicity, Regulation 613/91/EEC is repealed and replaced by a new text. A regulation is the most appropriate form of Community measure to revise an existing regulation. The European Commission proposed to update, widen and strengthen existing rules on the transfer of ships between EU registers. The proposed measure will make it easier for ships to change from one EU to another EU register. The aim is to contribute to the European Transport Policy objectives of improving the operating conditions and competitive position of European shipping whilst continuing to ensure a high level of ship safety and environmental protection. The new proposal extends the benefit of free transfer of register to passenger ships and provides for better co-operation between national maritime administrations. It builds upon the experience gathered with the implementation of current EU legislation and on recent EU and international regulatory developments in the field of maritime safety. Its aim is to further reduce the costs and the administrative procedures that the shipping industry faces when it decides to transfer ships from one register to another in the EU. The new proposed regulation will replace rules agreed in 1991. It strikes a balance between internal market considerations - such as the elimination of technical barriers to the transfer of ships between Member States - and maritime safety imperatives. Its basic philosophy is the recognition at European level that the safety standards enshrined in IMO Conventions are appropriate. Its main objectives are the following : - extend the benefit of free transport of register to passenger ships. Only cargo ships benefited so far of the free transfer possibility. However in the last years, the international regime applicable to passenger ships has been refined and a fully harmonised European technical regime was established for passenger ships built on or after the 1st of July 1998. This regime was reinforced by the recent adoption of the Commission's proposals on stability requirements for ro-ro passenger ships and on safety rules and standards for passenger ships. The Commission thus proposes to extend to all passenger ships built on or after 1 July 1998 or built before that date but complying with international requirements the free transfer of register regime. - better articulating the register regime with other EU maritime safety instruments. Most of the EU maritime safety legislation was adopted after the present register regime was set up in 1991. It is therefore important to link the new register regime with new EU instruments such as the classification societies Directive, the marine equipment Directive and the Port State control Directive. - reinforce co-operation between national maritime administrations. Only ships that have been in active serviceunder the flag of a Member State for at least six months may currently be transferred to another EU register. The Commission proposes to replace this rule by a provision that the maritime administration of the register losing the vessel must inform that of the gaining register of the improvements it required, if any, for registering the ship or renewing her certificates and of overdue surveys and provide it with the history file of the vessel. �

  • DG ['Energy and Transport'],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2003)0478
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A5-0413/2003
• Debate in Council: 2551
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0010/2004
• : Regulation 2004/789
• : OJ L 138 30.04.2004, p. 0019-0023

History

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