Activites

• 2010/10/29 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 2010/65
  • OJ L 283 29.10.2010, p. 0001
• 2010/10/20 Final act signed
• 2010/10/20 End of procedure in Parliament
• #3035
• 2010/10/11 Council Meeting
• 2010/10/11 Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
• 2010/07/06 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T7-0259/2010 summary

    The European Parliament adopted by 640 votes to 30, with 19 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from ports of the Member States of the Community and repealing Directive 2002/6/EC. It adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure (formerly known as the codecision procedure). The amendments adopted in plenary are the result of a compromise negotiated between the European Parliament and the Council. They amend the Commission proposal as follows:Subject matter and scope: the purpose of this Directive is to simplify and harmonise the administrative procedures applied to maritime transport by making the electronic transmission of information standard and by rationalising reporting formalities. This Directive shall apply to the reporting formalities applicable to maritime transport for ships arriving in and ships departing from ports situated in Member States. It shall not apply to ships exempted from reporting formalities.Definition of "electronic transmission of data": an amendment defines more clearly this term to mean the process of transmitting information that has been encoded digitally, using a revisable structured format which can be used directly for storage and processing by computers.Harmonisation and coordination of reporting formalities: each Member State shall take measures to ensure that the reporting formalities are requested in a harmonised and coordinated manner within that Member State. The Commission shall, in cooperation with the Member States, develop mechanisms for the harmonisation and coordination of reporting formalities within the Union. Notification prior to entry into ports: subject to specific provisions on notification applicable under legally binding Union acts or under international legal instruments applicable to maritime transport and binding on the Member States, including provisions on control of persons and goods, Member States shall ensure that the master or any other person duly authorised by the operator of the ship provides notification, prior to entering a port situated in a Member State, of the information required under the reporting formalities to the relevant competent authority appointed by that Member State. Electronic transmission of data: in order to streamline and accelerate the transmission of potentially very large amounts of information, electronic formats for reporting formalities should be used, whenever practicable. The compromise texts stipulates that Member States shall accept the fulfilment of reporting formalities in electronic format and their transmission via a single window as soon as possible and in any case no later than 1 June 2015. This single window, linking SafeSeaNet, e-Customs and other electronic systems, shall be the place through which, in accordance with this Directive, all information is reported once and made available to various competent authorities and the Member States.Exchange of data: Member States shall ensure that information received in accordance with the reporting formalities provided in accordance with a legally binding Union act is made available in their national SafeSeaNet systems and shall make relevant parts of such information available to other Member States via the SafeSeaNet system. Unless otherwise provided by a Member State, this shall not apply to information received pursuant to the provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (Community Customs Code), Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 (Modernised Customs Code), and Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 (Schengen Borders Code). Member States shall ensure that the information is accessible, upon request, to the relevant national authorities. The underlying digital format of the messages to be used within national SafeSeaNet systems shall be established following the provisions of Article 22a of Directive 2002/59/EC.Member States may provide relevant access to the information either through a national single window via an electronic data exchange system or through the national SafeSeaNet systems.Electronic transmission of data: Member States shall accept the fulfilment of reporting formalities in electronic format and their transmission via a single window as soon as possible and in any case no later than 1 June 2015. A recital states that within the EU, the provision of information in FAL forms in paper format should be the exception and should be accepted only for ships not flying the flag of a Member State and for a limited period of time, taking into account the Member States" obligations as contracting parties to the FAL Convention. Confidentiality: Member States shall, in accordance with legally binding Union acts or national legislation, take the necessary measures to ensure the confidentiality of commercial and other confidential information exchanged in accordance with this Directive. They shall take particular care to protect commercial data collected under this Directive. In respect of personal data, the Member States shall ensure they comply with Directive 95/46/EC.Exemptions: Member States shall ensure that ships falling within the scope of Directive 2002/59/EC and moving between ports situated in the European Union's customs territory, but which do not come from, call in or are headed towards a port situated outside that territory or a free zone subject to type I controls under customs legislation are exempt from the obligation to send the information referred to in the FAL forms, without prejudice to the applicable Union legislation and the possibility that Member States may request information in the FAL forms referred to in points B.1, B.2, B.3, B.4, B.5 and B.6 of the Annex necessary to protect internal order and security and to enforce customs, fiscal, immigration, environmental or sanitary laws.Amendment procedure: the Commission may adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as regards the Annex to this Directive, so as to ensure that account is taken of any relevant changes to the FAL forms introduced by the IMO. These amendments shall not have the effect of widening the scope of the Directive.Report: at the latest 18 months after the date of transposition, the Commission shall present a report on the functioning of this Directive, including on the:possibility of extending the simplification introduced by this Directive to cover inland waterway transport;compatibility of the River Information Services (RIS) with the electronic data transmission process referred to in this Directive;progress towards harmonisation and coordination of reporting formalities that has been achieved under this Directive;feasibility of avoiding or simplifying formalities for ships that have called at a port in a third country or free zone;available data concerning ship traffic/movement within the Union, and/or calling at third country ports or in free zones.

• 2010/07/05 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2010/03/25 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A7-0064/2010
• 2010/03/23 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• #2987
• 2009/12/17 Council Meeting
  • 2987 summary

    The Council reached a general approach, pending the European Parliament's position at first reading, on a draft directive on the reporting formalities to be fulfilled by ships arriving in or departing from EU ports in maritime transport. The proposed legislation is to replace directive 2002/6/EC on the same subject.The adoption of the draft directive is subject to the ordinary legislative procedure under the Lisbon treaty (that is, co-decision procedure with the European Parliament). The Parliament started its examination of the text this autumn.The focus on electronic data transmission was agreed during discussions in the Council working party, since the broader approach originally proposed by the Commission was found lacking in clarity. However, the draft directive as it stands also contains a more general provision in favour of further harmonisation of reporting formalities on national and EU level.As the directive does not create new reporting formalities, ships currently exempted from such obligations will remain outside its scope. Moreover, countries without any sea port will not be required to transpose the directive in respect of ports.The proposal is among a number of measures announced by the Commission in a communication in January 2009 (see COM(2009)0010) with a view to creating a European maritime transport area without barriers.

• 2009/10/19 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• #2964
• 2009/10/09 Council Meeting
  • 2964 summary

    In public deliberation, the Council took note of a progress report on a proposal for a directive aimed at simplifying the procedures and formalities to be fulfilled when ships arrive in or depart from EU ports. The Council instructed its preparatory bodies to continue the examination of this file, with a view to arriving at a rapid adoption of the proposal.The examination of the proposal by the Shipping Working Party started in May 2009, under the Czech Presidency but with a Swedish chair. The work has been pursued under the Swedish Presidency. The European Parliament has not yet started its examination. A rapporteur was nominated in September 2009 (Mr Sterckx, ALDE-BE). A first exchange of views in the Transport and Tourism Committee might take place in November 2009.Delegations are in general very positive to the aim of simplifying the administrative procedures. However, some doubts have been expressed on the relationship with other existing EU legal texts, such as the Customs Code, the Schengen Borders Code and the Vessel Traffic Monitoring Directive, as well as with certain international requirements. Furthermore, many Member States question the different time-frames in the Commission proposal for the implementation of the Directive. Regarding the scope, the Commission’s intention to cover all seagoing ships is considered as being too broad. In addition, some landlocked EU Member States raised the question of the need for them to transpose the Directive.Concerning the language in which FAL forms may be submitted, the Commission has proposed that all IMO official languages could be used. However, a number of delegations has proposed English as it is the language most widely used in shipping, but there is strong reluctance on this point from several other delegations.Lastly, the examination of the Commission proposal has shown that some of the simplification measures might be difficult to implement, more for reasons of legislative technique than for political reasons. As regards the scope and with a view to facilitating an agreement, the Presidency has proposed the exclusion of some categories of ships as suggested by some delegations. Furthermore, a specific solution for landlocked Member States has to be found, taking into account the fact that some of these Member States have ships registered under their flag. As for other outstanding issues, the Presidency is seeking to simplify and clarify the proposal along the lines suggested by delegations. A core issue here is to ensure consistency with other EU legislation and international requirements, in order to avoid any contradictions and/or legal vacua.As soon as the European Parliament has started its examination, it is the intention of the Presidency to commence informal contacts with the rapporteur. The aim would be to reach a first reading agreement with the Parliament, depending on the time-table of the Parliament. At this stage, all delegations have general scrutiny reservations on the current text of the Commission proposal. In addition, DK, MT and UK have parliamentary scrutiny reservations.Following the above, Coreper is invited to take note of this progress report and to invite the TTE Council to examine it on 9 October 2009.

• #2935
• 2009/03/30 Council Meeting
• 2009/03/09 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2009/01/21 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2009)0011 summary

    PURPOSE: to simplify the documentary and physical checks conducted on ships and goods moving between ports situated in the European Union.PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council.BACKGROUND: Directive 2002/6/EC requires Member States to accept certain standardised forms (hereinafter, ‘FAL forms’) in order to facilitate traffic, as defined by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Convention designed to facilitate international maritime traffic (hereinafter, ‘FAL Convention’). Directive 2002/6/EC must be replaced in order to meet the following needs:review of the FAL Convention and consistency with other Community legislative acts: the changes to Community legislation and the FAL Convention are causing greater administrative complexity in the field of maritime transport, which should be reduced while avoiding any reduction in maritime safety, maritime security and environmental protection;a new security information form to be provided prior to entry into a port in a Member State: the Commission has provided the maritime security committee (the ‘MARSEC committee’), established under Regulation No 725/2004 on enhancing ship and port facility security, with a draft form designed to ensure harmonisation of information requests. The committee approved this harmonised draft information form in March 2005. Until the adoption of a harmonised form of this type at international level, the Commission is proposing as an interim measure the form approved by the MARSEC committee;insufficient information and duplication of authorities in ports: this results in an increase in repetitive work and a potential cause of slowness or errors which could be eliminated if the use of electronic data transmission systems was more widespread;inconsistent application of Directive 2002/6/EC: a study of 40 ports carried out by the European Maritime Safety Agency showed that although the Directive was generally well implemented by the Member States, it did not always enable the intended objective of simplification to be achieved.IMPACT ASSESSMENT: three options were considered: (a) no measure being taken at Community level; (b) given that checks conducted on goods circulating within the internal market are derived from various pieces of legislation, each of them being the subject of simplification on a case-by-case basis; (c) a series of coherent measures being adopted in order to eliminate administrative obstacles to the free movement of Community goods or similar between EU ports. The option chosen by the Commission is option (c).CONTENT: the aim of this proposal for a Directive is to reduce the amount of information to be repeatedly provided to the various port authorities. To this end, it is felt that the transmission of information as provided for in Directives 95/21/EC, 2002/59/EC and 2000/59/EC and Regulation (EC) No 725/2004 and, if necessary, the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, contain all navigation information required by the authorities upon arrival at and/or departure from ports.The Commission proposes, inter alia:to establish a 24-hour deadline by which the information required must be sent, in compliance with the deadlines stipulated in Directive 2002/59/EC and Regulation (EC) No 725/2004;to require Member States to appoint a single competent authority at national level for the collation of information required at entry to and/or exit from European Union ports, which shall be the authority designated for the implementation of SafeSeaNet;to make the use of electronic means of transmission commonplace as soon as possible and by 13 February 2013 at the latest, this being the date given in Decision 70/2008/EC on a paperless environment for customs and trade;to exempt those moving between ports situated within the European Community's customs territory from sending FAL forms, provided that the goods are presumed to have Community status.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/transport/index_en.htm', 'title': 'Mobility and Transport'}, KALLAS Siim

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2009)0011
• Debate in Council: 2964
• Debate in Council: 2987
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A7-0064/2010
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T7-0259/2010
• : Directive 2010/65
• : OJ L 283 29.10.2010, p. 0001

History

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