2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 1
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►B REGULATION (EC) No 2099/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE
COUNCIL
of5November2002
establishing a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) and
amendingtheRegulationsonmaritime safetyandthepreventionofpollutionfromships
(OJ L 324, 29.11.2002, p. 1)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Regulation (EC) No 415/2004 of 5 March2004 L 68 10 6.3.2004
▼B
REGULATION (EC) No 2099/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENTANDOFTHECOUNCIL
of5November2002
establishingaCommitteeonSafeSeasandthePreventionofPollu-
tionfromShips(COSS)andamendingtheRegulationsonmaritime
safetyandthepreventionofpollutionfromships
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and
in particular Article 80(2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (3),
Acting in accordance withth e procedure referred to in Article 251 of
the Treaty (4),
Whereas:
(1)The measures implementing the existing Regulations and Direc-
tives in the field of maritime safety were adopted by a regulatory
procedure involving the Committee set up by Council Directive
93/75/EEC of 13 September 1993 concerning minimum require-ments for vessels bound for or leaving Community ports andcarrying dangerous or polluting goods(
5) and, in certain cases,
an ad hoc committee. These committees were governed by therules set out in Council Decision 87/373/EEC of 13 July 1987
laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing
powers conferred on the Commission (
6).
(2)By its Resolution of 8 June 1993 on a common policy on safeseas(
7), the Council approved in principle the establishment of
a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution fromShips (COSS) and called on the Commission to present a
proposal to set up sucha committee.
(3)The role of COSS is to centralise the tasks of the committees set
up under the Community legislation on maritime safety, theprevention of pollution from ships and the protection of ship-board living and working conditions and to assist and advisethe Commission on all matters of maritime safety and prevention
or reduction of pollution of the environment by shipping activ-
ities.
(4)In keeping withth e Resolution of 8 June 1993, a Committee onSafe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships should beset up and assigned the tasks previously devolved to the commit-tees established under the aforesaid legislation. All new
Community legislation adopted in the field of maritime safety
should stipulate recourse to the Committee thereby set up.
(5)Decision 87/373/EEC has been replaced by Council Decision1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ C 365 E, 19.12.2000, p. 276.
(2) OJ C 139, 11.5.2001, p. 21.
(3) OJ C 253, 12.9.2001, p. 1.
(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 February 2001 (OJ C 276,
1.10.2001, p. 42), Council Common Position of 27 May 2002 (OJ C 170
E, 16.7.2002, p. 37) and Decision of the European Parliament of 24
September 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(5) OJ L 247, 5.10.1993, p. 19. Directive as last amended by Directive 98/74/
EC (OJ L 276, 13.10.1998, p. 7).
(6) OJ L 197, 18.7.1987, p. 33.
(7) OJ C 271, 7.10.1993, p. 1.
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the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commis-
sion(1), the provisions of which should therefore be applied to
COSS. The purpose of the latter decision is to define the
Committee procedures applicable and ensure more comprehen-
sive information to the European Parliament and the public onthe work of the committees.
(6)The measures required to implement the aforesaid legislation
should be adopted in accordance with Decision 1999/468/EC.
(7)The aforesaid legislation should also be amended to substitute
COSS for the Committee set up by Directive 93/75/EEC or,where appropriate, for the ad hoc committee established under
any particular act. This Regulation should in particular amend
the relevant provisions of Council Regulations (EEC) No 613/91 of 4 March 1991 on the transfer of ships from one registerto another within the Community (
2), (EC) No 2978/94 of 21
November 1994 on the implementation of IMO ResolutionA.747(18) on the application of tonnage measurement of ballast
spaces in segregated ballast oil tankers (
3), (EC) No 3051/95 of 8
December 1995 on the safety management of roll-on/roll-offpassenger ferries (ro-ro ferries) (
4) and Regulation (EC) No 417/
2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18February 2002 on the accelerated phasing-in of double hull or
equivalent design requirements for single hull oil tankers and
repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2978/94 (
5), in order to
insert a reference to COSS and to stipulate the regulatory proce-dure laid down in Article 5 of Decision 1999/468/EC.
(8)Moreover, the aforesaid legislation is based on the application of
rules resulting from international instruments in force at the date
of adoption of the Community act in question, or at the datespecified by the latter. As a consequence, Member States cannotapply the subsequent amendments to these international instru-ments until the Community Directives or Regulations have been
amended. This has major disadvantages owing to the difficulty
of ensuring that the date of entry into force of the amendmentat international level coincides with that of the Regulation inte-grating this amendment into Community law, not least thedelayed application within the Community of the most recentand most stringent international safety standards.
(9)However, it is necessary to draw a distinction between the provi-sions of a Community act making reference, for the purposes oftheir application, to an international instrument and Communityprovisions reproducing an international instrument in full or in
part. In the latter case, the most recent amendments to the inter-
national instruments cannot in any case be rendered applicableuntil the Community provisions concerned have been amended.
(10)Member States should therefore be permitted to apply the most
recent provisions of international instruments, withth e exception
of those explicitly incorporated in a Community act. This can bedone by stating that the international convention applicable forthe purposes of the Directive or Regulation concerned is that‘in its up-to-date version’, without mentioning the date.
(11)For reasons of transparency, the relevant amendments to interna-tional instruments that are integrated in Community maritimelegislation should be made public in the Community throughtheir publication in the Official Journal of the European Commu-
nities.
(12)A specific conformity checking procedure should, however, be
set up to enable the Commission, after consulting COSS, to2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 3
(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(2) OJ L 68, 15.3.1991, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 320, 30.12.1995, p. 14. Regulation as amended by Commission Regu-
lation (EC) No 179/98 (OJ L 19, 24.1.1998, p. 35).
(5) OJ L 64, 7.3.2002, p. 1.
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take whatever measures may be necessary to exclude the risk of
amendments to the international instruments being incompatiblewithth e aforesaid legislation or Community policy on maritime
safety, the prevention of pollution from ships and the protection
of shipboard living and working conditions in force or with theobjectives pursued by that legislation. Such a procedure shouldalso prevent international amendments from lowering the stan-dard of maritime safety achieved in the Community.
(13)The conformity checking procedure will only be fully effective
if the planned measures are adopted as speedily as possible, but
at all events before the expiry of the deadline for the entry intoforce of the international amendment. Consequently, the timeavailable to the Council to act on the proposed measures inaccordance withArticle 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC sh ouldbe one month,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Purpose
The purpose of this Regulation is to improve the implementation of the
Community legislation referred to in Article 2(2) on maritime safety,the prevention of pollution from ships and shipboard living and
working conditions:
(a) by centralising the tasks of the committees set up under Commu-
nity maritime legislation and replaced by this Regulation byestablishing a single Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention
of Pollution from Ships, to be known as COSS;
(b) by accelerating the update of, and facilitating subsequent amend-
ments to, Community maritime legislation in the light ofdevelopments in the international instruments referred to in Article2(1).
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation:
1. ‘international instruments’ shall mean the conventions, protocols,
resolutions, codes, compendia of rules, circulars, standards andprovisions adopted by an international conference, the InternationalMaritime Organisation (IMO), the International Labour Organisation(ILO) or the parties to a memorandum of understanding referred to
in the provisions of the Community maritime legislation in force;
2. ‘Community maritime legislation’ shall mean the Community acts in
force listed below:
(a) Council Regulation (EEC) No 613/91;
(b) Council Directive 93/75/EEC;
(c) Council Regulation (EC) No 2978/94;
(d) Council Directive 94/57/EC of 22 November 1994 on common
rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisationsand for the relevant activities of maritime administrations (
1);
(e) Council Directive 95/21/EC of 19 June 1995 on port State
control (2);
(f) Council Regulation (EC) No 3051/95;2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 4
(1) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 20. Directive as last amended by European Parlia-
ment and Council Directive 2001/105/EC (OJ L 19, 22.1.2002, p. 9).
(2) OJ L 157, 7.7.1995, p. 1. Directive as last amended by European Parliament
and Council Directive 2001/106/EC (OJ L 19, 22.1.2002, p. 17).
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(g) Council Directive 96/98/EC of 20 December 1996 on marine
equipment (1);
(h) Council Directive 97/70/EC of 11 December 1997 setting up a
harmonised safety regime for fishing vessels of 24 metres in
lengthand over(2);
(i) Council Directive 98/18/EC of 17 March1998 on safety rules
and standards for passenger ships(3);
(j) Council Directive 98/41/EC of 18 June 1998 on the registration
of persons sailing on board passenger ships operating to or from
ports of the Member States of the Community (4);
(k) Council Directive 1999/35/EC of 29 April 1999 on a system of
mandatory surveys for the safe operation of regular ro-ro ferryand high speed passenger craft services (
5);
(l) Directive 2000/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 27 November 2000 on port reception facilities for
ship-generated waste and cargo residues (6);
(m) Directive 2001/25/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 4 April 2001 on the minimum level of training ofseafarers (
7);
(n) Directive 2001/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 4 December 2001 establishing harmonised require-
ments and procedures for the safe loading and unloading ofbulk carriers (
8);
(o) Regulation (EC) No 417/2002 of the European Parliament and
of the Council;
(p) Directive 2002/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 18 February 2002 on reporting formalities for ships
arriving in and/or departing from ports of the Member States ofthe Community (
9);
(q) Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a Community vesseltraffic monitoring and information system and repealing
Council Directive 93/75/EEC (
10);
(r) Regulation (EC) No 782/2003 of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 14 April 2003 on the prohibition of organotincompounds on ships(
11);
(s) Directive 2003/25/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 14 April 2003 on specific stability requirements for
ro-ro passenger ships(12).
Article 3
EstablishmentofaCommittee
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a Committee on Safe Seas
and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (hereinafter called COSS).2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 5
(1) OJ L 46, 17.2.1997, p. 25. Directive as last amended by Commission Direc-
tive 2002/75/EC (OJ L 254, 23.9.2002, p. 1).
(2) OJ L 34, 9.2.1998, p. 1. Directive as amended by Commission Directive
2002/35/EC (OJ L 112, 27.4.2002, p. 21).
(3) OJ L 144, 15.5.1998, p. 1. Directive as amended by Commission Directive
2002/25/EC (OJ L 98, 15.4.2002, p. 1).
(4) OJ L 188, 2.7.1998, p. 35.
(5) OJ L 138, 1.6.1999, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 332, 28.12.2000, p. 81.
(7) OJ L 136, 18.5.2001, p. 17.
(8) OJ L 13, 16.1.2002, p. 9.
(9) OJ L 67, 9.3.2002, p. 31.
(10) OJ L 208, 5.8.2002, p. 10.
(11) OJ L 115, 9.5.2003, p. 1.
(12) OJ L 123, 17.5.2003, p. 22.▼M1
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2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of
Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions ofArticle 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be
set at one month.
3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.
Article 4
IntegrationofamendmentstointernationalinstrumentsinCommu-
nitylaw
For the purposes of Community maritime legislation, the applicable
international instruments shall be those which have entered into force,
including the most recent amendments thereto, with the exception ofthe amendments excluded from the scope of the Community maritimelegislation resulting from the conformity checking procedure estab-lished by Article 5.
Article 5
Conformitycheckingprocedure
1. For the purposes of this Regulation and with a view to reducing
the risks of conflict between the Community maritime legislation andinternational instruments, Member States and the Commission shallcooperate, through coordination meetings and/or any other appropriatemeans, in order to define, as appropriate, a common position or
approachin th e competent international fora.
2. A conformity checking procedure is hereby established in order to
exclude from the scope of the Community maritime legislation anyamendment to an international instrument only if, on the basis of an
evaluation by the Commission, there is a manifest risk that the interna-
tional amendment, within the scope of the Regulations or theDirectives referred to in Article 2(2), will lower the standard of mari-time safety, of prevention of pollution from ships or of protection ofshipboard living and working conditions established by Community
maritime legislation, or be incompatible withth e latter.
The conformity checking procedure may be used solely to make
amendments to the Community maritime legislation in the fieldsexpressly covered by the regulatory procedure and strictly within the
framework of exercise of implementing powers conferred on the
Commission.
3. In the circumstances referred to in paragraph 2, the conformity
checking procedure shall be initiated by the Commission, which, where
appropriate, may act at the request of a Member State.
The Commission shall submit to the COSS, without delay, after the
adoption of an amendment to an international instrument a proposal
for measures with the aim of excluding the amendment in question
from the Community text concerned.
The conformity checking procedure, including, if applicable, the proce-
dures set up in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC, shall be
completed at least one month before the expiration of the period estab-
lished internationally for the tacit acceptance of the amendmentconcerned or the envisaged date for the entry into force of said amend-ment.
4. In the event of a risk as referred to in the first subparagraph of
paragraph 2, Member States shall refrain, during the period of theconformity checking procedure, from any initiative intended to inte-grate the amendment in national legislation or to apply theamendment to the international instrument concerned.2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 6
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Article 6
Information
All relevant amendments to international instruments that are integrated
in Community maritime legislation, in accordance withArticles 4 and5, shall be published, for information purposes, in the Official Journal
of the European Communities .
Article 7
PowersofCOSS
COSS shall exercise the powers conferred on it by virtue of the
Community legislation in force. Article 2(2) may be amended by the
procedure set out in Article 3(2) in order to include a reference to theCommunity acts conferring implementing powers on COSS that haveentered into force following the adoption of this Regulation.
Article 8
AmendmenttoRegulation(EEC)No613/91
Regulation (EEC) No 613/91 is hereby amended as follows:1. Article 1(a) shall be replaced by the following:
‘(a) “Conventions” means the 1974 International Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea (1974 Solas), the 1966 International
Convention on Load Lines (LL66) and the International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (Marpol73/78), in their up-to-date versions, and related resolutions ofmandatory status adopted by the International Maritime Organi-sation (IMO).’
2. Articles 6 and 7 shall be replaced by the following:
‘Article 6
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe
Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) created byArticle 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 of the European Parlia-ment and of the Council of 5 November 2002 establishing a
Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
(COSS)(*).
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of
Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on
the Commission (**) shall apply, having regard to the provisions ofArticle 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall
be set at two months.
3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.
Article 7
The amendments to the international instruments referred to in
Article 1 may be excluded from the scope of this Regulation,pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002.
(*) OJ L 324, 29.11.2002, p. 1.
(**) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.’
Article 9
AmendmenttoRegulation(EC)No2978/94
Regulation (EC) No 2978/94 is hereby amended as follows:1. Article 3(g) shall be replaced by the following:
‘(g) “Marpol 73/78” means the International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as amended by theProtocol of 1978 relating thereto, in their up-to-date versions.’2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 7
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2. The following paragraph shall be added to Article 6:
‘The amendments to the international instruments referred to in
Article 3 may be excluded from the scope of this Regulation,pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 estab-
lishing a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollutionfrom Ships (COSS)(*).
(*) OJ L 324, 29.11.2002, p. 1.’
3. Article 7 shall be replaced by the following:
‘Article 7
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe
Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) created byArticle 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of
Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down theprocedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred onthe Commission (*) shall apply, having regard to the provisions of
Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall
be set at three months.
3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.
(*) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.’
Article 10
AmendmenttoRegulation(EC)No3051/95
Regulation (EC) No 3051/95 is hereby amended as follows:1. The following subparagraph shall be added to Article 9:
‘The amendments to the international instruments referred to in
Article 2 may be excluded from the scope of this Regulation,pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 of theEuropean Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 estab-lishing a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution
from Ships (COSS)(*).
(*) OJ L 324, 29.11.2002, p. 1.’
2. Article 10 shall be replaced by the following:
‘Article 10
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe
Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) created byArticle 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of
Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred onthe Commission (*) shall apply, having regard to the provisions ofArticle 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall
be set at two months.
3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.
(*) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.’2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 8
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Article 11
AmendmenttoRegulation(EC)No417/2002
Regulation (EC) No 417/2002 is hereby amended as follows:1. Article 3(1) shall be replaced by the following:
‘1. “Marpol 73/78” means the International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as amended by theProtocol of 1978 relating thereto, in their up-to-date versions.’
2. In Article 10(1) shall be replaced by the following:
‘1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe
Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) created by
Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 of 5 November 2002 ofthe European Parliament and of the Council establishing aCommittee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships(COSS)(*).
(*) OJ L 324, 29.11.2002, p. 1.’
3. The following subparagraph shall be added to Article 11:
‘The amendments to the international instrument referred to in
Article 3(1) may be excluded from the scope of this Regulation,pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002.’
Article 12
Entryintoforce
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.2002R2099 — EN — 06.03.2004 — 001.001 — 9