Considerations on COM(2000)142-3 - Amendment of Council Directive 94/57/EC on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2000)142-3 - Amendment of Council Directive 94/57/EC on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations and for ... |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2000)142  |
| date | December 19, 2001 |
(2) Council Directive 94/57/EC(5) established a system of Community-wide recognition of organisations that, in compliance with the international conventions, may be authorised to a various extent to inspect ships and issue the relevant safety certificates on behalf of the Member States.
(3) The practical implementation of that Directive showed that some adjustments to the Community-wide recognition of organisations might have contributed greatly towards the strengthening of such a system while simplifying the monitoring and reporting obligations imposed on Member States.
(4) Since the adoption of Directive 94/57/EC some developments have occurred in the relevant legislation at Community and international level requiring that further adjustments to Directive 94/57/EC be made.
(5) In particular, for the purposes of Directive 94/57/EC, it is appropriate to apply the amendments to the international conventions together with the protocols and related codes of mandatory status, referred to in Article 2(d) of Directive 94/57/EC, which entered into force after the adoption of the Directive as well as the relevant International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Resolutions.
(6) With a view to promoting the effective implementation of the obligations of the flag States laid down in the international conventions, the IMO Assembly adopted on 27 November 1997 Resolution A.847(20) on guidelines to assist flag States in the implementation of IMO instruments.
(7) IMO adopted the International Safety Management (ISM) Code through Assembly Resolution A.741(18) of 4 November 1993 which was made mandatory through the new Chapter IX of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention.
(8) With a view to ensuring a uniform implementation of the ISM Code, guidelines on the implementation of the ISM Code by maritime administrations were adopted on 23 November 1995 by IMO through Resolution A.788(19).
(9) With a view to harmonising the statutory surveys and inspections to be carried out by the flag administrations pursuant to the international conventions, IMO adopted Resolution A.746(18) of 4 November 1993 on Survey Guidelines under the Harmonised System of Survey and Certification.
(10) A good record of safety and pollution prevention performance - measured in respect of all ships classed by an organisation, irrespective of the flag they fly - is an important indication of the performance of an organisation and is therefore essential for granting the initial recognition and maintaining it.
(11) In order to grant the initial recognition to the organisations wishing to be authorised to work on behalf of the Member States, compliance with the provisions of Directive 94/57/EC can be assessed more effectively in a harmonised and centralised manner by the Commission together with the Member States requesting the recognition.
(12) Similarly, the continuous a posteriori monitoring of the recognised organisations to assess their compliance with the provisions of Directive 94/57/EC can be carried out more effectively in a harmonised and centralised manner. Therefore it is appropriate that the Commission, together with the Member State requesting the recognition, be entrusted with this task on behalf of the whole Community.
(13) In addition to the authority of Member States to suspend the authorisation of an organisation working on their behalf, a similar authority should apply at Community level, the Commission being allowed, on the basis of the Committee procedure, to suspend the recognition of an organisation for a limited period of time where the safety and pollution prevention performance of the organisation is worsening and it fails to take the appropriate corrective measures.
(14) In accordance with the Community-wide approach, the decision to withdraw the recognition of an organisation which fails to fulfil the provisions set out in the Directive, including cases where safety and pollution prevention performance becomes unsatisfactory, has to be taken at Community level, and therefore by the Commission, on the basis of the Committee procedure.
(15) Since Directive 94/57/EC ensures freedom to provide services in the Community, the Community should be entitled to negotiate with those third countries where some of the recognised organisations are located equal treatment for the recognised organisations located in the Community.
(16) The divergence in the financial liability regimes of the organisations working on behalf of the Member States represented a difficulty in the proper implementation of Directive 94/57/EC. In order to contribute to solving this problem it is appropriate to bring about a degree of harmonisation at Community level of the liability arising out of any incident caused by a recognised organisation, as decided by a court of law, including settlement of a dispute through arbitration procedures.
(17) The measures necessary for the implementation of Directive 94/57/EC should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(6).
(18) Since transparency and exchange of information between interested parties, as well as public right of access to information, are fundamental tools for preventing accidents at sea, the recognised organisations should provide all relevant statutory information concerning the conditions of the ships in their class to the port State control authorities and make it available to the general public.
(19) In an attempt to prevent ships from changing class in order to avoid carrying out necessary repairs, the recognised organisations should exchange all relevant information among themselves concerning the conditions of ships changing class.
(20) An organisation should not be controlled by shipowners or shipbuilders, or by others engaged commercially in the manufacture, equipping, repair or operation of ships. An organisation should not be substantially dependent on a single commercial enterprise for its revenue. When submitting their request for recognition, classification societies and their surveyors should give an undertaking in writing on an individual basis not to accept statutory work where there is a likelihood of a conflict of interests, i.e. where there is identity with the owner or operator of the ship to be inspected or there are business, personal or family links to the owner or operator of the ship.
(21) The qualitative criteria to be met by the technical organisations in order to be recognised at Community level and to maintain such recognition should include provisions to ensure that only exclusive surveyors can carry out the inspections and surveys required by international conventions, i.e. statutory tasks related to the issue of relevant safety certificates. Those organisations must have tight control over all their personnel and offices, including all branches and offices within and outside the Community, and they must establish their own safety and pollution prevention performance targets and indicators. Those organisations must put in place a system to measure the quality of their services.
(22) Directive 94/57/EC should be amended accordingly.