Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and departing from Community ports

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. The Problem: Diversity of Document Formats

Public authorities frequently require, for their retention on arrival and/or departure of a ship, documents and information relating, inter alia, to the ship, its stores, its crew's effects, its crew and passengers. These requirements are formalities that ships have to fulfil when calling at ports.

Commission Communication COM(1999) 317 final on short sea shipping [1] recognised that the formats of the documents to be submitted for the provision of such information differed considerably between Member States.

[1] The Development of Short Sea Shipping in Europe: A Dynamic Alternative in a Sustainable Transport Chain - Second Two-yearly Progress Report, COM(1999) 317 final, 29.6.1999.

The use of different formats of documents for the same or similar purposes creates complexity for maritime transport and, in particular, short sea shipping. Therefore, the Commission recommended in Communication COM(1999) 317 final that "EU Member States should consider accepting a uniform set of ship arrival and departure forms based on IMO FAL forms 1, 3, 4 and 5 when those forms are applicable" (point 9.2.3 of the Communication and Recommendation No. 12 in Annex I to it).

The Transport Council, in its Resolution of 14 February 2000 on the promotion of short sea shipping [2], invited the Commission to present proposals as regards uniform application of IMO FAL forms in the Community (Council Resolution, point 12b).

[2] OJ C 56, 29.2.2000, p. 3.

Furthermore, the European Parliament, in its Resolution of 7 July 2000 [3] on Commission Communication COM(1999) 317 final, stated that it is particularly important to simplify and streamline administrative formalities and documents.

[3] Not yet published in the Official Journal.

2. The Solution: Recognition of Standard Ship's Arrival and Departure Forms in the Community

2.1. Facilitation of Maritime Traffic within the framework of the International Maritime Organisation

The International Maritime Organisation's Convention on Facilitation of Maritime Traffic (IMO FAL Convention) was signed on 9 April 1965 and came into force on 5 March 1967. The Convention has been signed by most Member States. It has been amended several times and will most probably be reviewed again in the future.

As it stands, the Convention recommends, inter alia, the use by national authorities of six standardised forms to be filled in for ships to report when arriving in port and departing from port:

(1) IMO General Declaration (Form No. 1),

(2) IMO Cargo Declaration (Form No. 2),

(3) IMO Ship's Stores Declaration (Form No. 3),

(4) IMO Crew's Effects Declaration (Form No. 4),

(5) IMO Crew List (Form No. 5), and

(6) IMO Passenger List (Form No. 6).

2.2. Implementation of IMO FAL Forms in the Member States

According to information available [4]:

[4] Comparison of Documentation in Short Sea Shipping and Road Transport ('CODISSSART'), November 1998, Maritime Research Centre, Southampton Institute, the United Kingdom.

- 2 Member States accept the IMO General Declaration Form without modifications,

- 7 Member States accept the IMO Cargo Declaration Form without modifications,

- 5 Member States accept the IMO Ship's Stores Declaration Form without modifications,

- 6 Member States accept the IMO Crew's Effects Declaration Form without modifications,

- 9 Member States accept the IMO Crew List Form without modifications.

A number of Member States do not accept all the IMO FAL Forms but require national forms, sometimes similar to FAL, to be completed.

Table 1: Implementation of FAL Standard forms by Member States:

>TABLE POSITION>

Source: CODISSSART / IMO 1998b, Annex

Code 1 No documentary requirement

2 IMO FAL Form acceptable without modification

3 National form based on IMO FAL Form adopted

4 IMO FAL Form not yet acceptable, adoption under consideration

5 IMO FAL Form unacceptable, national form remains in use

* Indicates qualification to IMO FAL Form.

2.3. Recognition of Standardised IMO FAL Forms in the Community

The Commission has decided to use the IMO FAL Forms as the basis for its proposal.

The proposal reflects the relevant existing IMO model FAL Forms in detail because the Commission considers that it would not be opportune to establish a separate set of documents for the Community for the same purpose as IMO FAL Forms are used world-wide. Community support to the FAL Forms could also encourage wider application of them in their model format and, consequently, lead to facilitation of documentary procedures world-wide.

The proposal provides that the Member States are to accept a set of common standardised IMO FAL Forms when they require any or all the information contained in those forms as part of the reporting formalities for a ship to arrive in and/or depart from a Community port. The FAL Forms are intended to fulfil the purpose of providing that reporting information in documentary form and to be sufficient for ships to report on arrival and departure. The proposal provides for IMO FAL Forms Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5 for all ships and No. 6 for cargo ships to be sufficient for the particular formalities they cover:

* Provision of information relating to the ship (General Declaration, Form No. 1);

* Provision of information relating to ship's stores (Ship's Stores Declaration, Form No. 3);

* Provision of information relating to crew's effects (Crew's Effects Declaration, Form No. 4);

* Provision of the information relating to the number and composition of the crew (Crew List, Form No. 5);

* For ships certified to carry 12 passengers or fewer (cargo ships), provision of information relating to passengers (Passenger List, Form No. 6).

The Member States will not be able to require other categories of information than those on the relevant IMO FAL Forms or require any other documents or formats to satisfy the particular formalities for which the FAL forms covered by the proposal are intended. The Member States would also have to accept the Forms signed by the signatories stipulated in the IMO FAL Convention.

In respect of the IMO FAL Forms concerned, there does not seem to be any justification for restricting the uniform recognition to short sea trades or to Community flags. The purpose of the documents to be submitted in Community ports is the same for any trade or flag. Also, the IMO FAL Convention does not distinguish between trades or flags. Consequently, the Commission proposes that the Directive should apply to all ships arriving in or departing from Community ports, irrespective of flag or trade.

The proposal does not make it compulsory for the Member States to introduce any formalities they do not currently require to be fulfilled. Nor would they be obliged to require the submission of all the information that may be provided for in the IMO FAL Forms. However, they cannot require the submission of more information for the formalities concerned.

Member States remain free to ask for information relating to other topics and formalities in other formats (subject to other Community and/or international rules), including information pertaining to registry, measurement, safety, manning, cargo carried and customs procedures, as long as those topics and formalities are not covered by the IMO FAL Forms concerned.

Certain Member States have notified to IMO differences between national practices and standards and recommended practices of the IMO FAL Convention. Those notifications of national practices that are incompatible with the scope of this Directive should be withdrawn because they are rendered superfluous by this Directive.

The proposal does not make it compulsory for the Member States to sign or accept the IMO FAL Convention.

If the IMO FAL Forms concerned were transmitted electronically, the proportions of their electronic end-format on the end-user screen and when printed would have to follow the proportions of the standardised model forms. The proposal does not aim to harmonise the interconnection tools or types of electronic messaging used to transfer the data itself.

2.3.1. Note on IMO FAL Forms Nos. 2 and 6

2.3.1.1. Cargo Declaration

The Commission does not propose uniformity in relation to IMO FAL Form No. 2 (Cargo Declaration) because that document is commonly replaced by cargo manifests which serve both commercial and authority purposes. There would be a danger that including that Form in the proposal would actually introduce a new document and add to administrative complexity in shipping instead of facilitating it. In other words, for the provision of cargo information, an IMO FAL Form would be required in addition to manifests often accepted in their commercial format today. Further, a manifest can include more detailed information than IMO FAL Form No. 2 does.

2.3.1.2. Passenger List

No indications have been received that passenger lists (IMO FAL Form No. 6) would generally create problems. Established standard practices exist in Europe at least for regular services. In addition, the IMO FAL Form does not include all information required, inter alia, by Council Directive 98/41/EC [5] (in particular, as to sex and special care or assistance).

[5] 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, OJ L 188, 2.7.1998, p. 35.

However, for the sake of consistency, the Commission proposes recognition of IMO FAL Passenger Lists for ships not covered by Directive 98/41/EC (that is, cargo ships with 12 passengers or fewer).

* * * * *

2001/0026 (COD)

Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and departing from Community ports

(Text with EEA relevance)

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 [6],

[6] OJ C

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee [7],

[7] OJ C

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions [8],

[8] OJ C

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty [9],

[9] OJ C

Whereas:

(1) The Community has an established policy to encourage sustainable transport, such as shipping, and, in particular, to promote short sea shipping.

(2) Facilitation of maritime transport is an essential objective for the Community to further strengthen the position of shipping in the transport system as an alternative and complement to other transport modes in a door-to-door transport chain.

(3) The documentary procedures required in maritime transport have caused concern and have been considered to hamper the development of the mode to its full potential.

(4) The International Maritime Organisation's Convention on the Facilitation of Maritime Traffic adopted by the International Conference on Facilitation of Maritime Travel and Transport on 9 April 1965, as subsequently amended (hereinafter "the IMO FAL Convention"), has provided a set of models for standardised Facilitation Forms for ships to fulfil certain reporting formalities when they arrive in or depart from a port.

(5) Most Member States use these Facilitation Forms but do not apply the models provided under the auspices of the IMO in a uniform manner.

(6) Uniformity in the format of the forms required for a ship arriving in and departing from a port should facilitate the documentary procedures for port calls and be beneficial to the development of Community shipping.

(7) Consequently, it is opportune to introduce the recognition of the IMO Facilitation Forms (hereinafter "IMO FAL Forms") at Community level. The Member States should recognise the IMO FAL Forms and the categories of information in them as sufficient proof that a ship has fulfilled the reporting formalities these Forms are intended for.

(8) The recognition of certain IMO FAL Forms, in particular the Cargo Declaration and - for passenger ships - the Passenger List, would add to the complexity of reporting formalities either because those forms cannot contain all necessary information or because well-established facilitation practices already exist. Consequently, obligatory recognition of those forms should not be introduced.

(9) Maritime transport is a global activity and the introduction of the IMO FAL Forms in the Community could pave the way towards their intensified application around the world.

(10) In accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, the objectives of the proposed action, namely to facilitate maritime transport, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale of the action, be better achieved by the Community. This Directive confines itself to the minimum required in order to achieve those objectives and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose.

(11) Since the measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive are measures of general scope within the meaning of Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission, [10] they should be adopted by use of the regulatory procedure provided for in Article 5 of that Decision,

[10] OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1 - Subject matter

The purpose of this Directive is to facilitate maritime transport, in particular that between ports situated in the Member States, by providing for standardisation of reporting formalities.

Article 2 - Scope

This Directive shall apply to the reporting formalities set out in Annex I, Part A, relating to a ship, its stores, its crew's effects, its crew list and, in the case of a ship certified to carry 12 passengers or fewer, its passenger list.

Article 3 - Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) 'IMO FAL Convention' means the International Maritime Organisation's Convention on the Facilitation of Maritime Traffic adopted by the International Conference on Facilitation of Maritime Travel and Transport on 9 April 1965;

(b) 'IMO FAL Forms' means A4-size Standardised IMO Model Facilitation Forms provided for under the IMO FAL Convention;

(c) 'reporting formality' means the information that, when required by a Member State, must be provided for administrative and procedural purposes when a ship arrives in or departs from a port;

(d) 'ship' means a seagoing vessel of any type operating in the marine environment;

(e) 'ship's stores' means goods for use in the ship, including consumable goods, goods carried for sale to passengers and crew members, fuel and lubricants, but excluding ship's equipment and spare parts;

(f) 'ship's equipment' means articles other than ship's spare parts which are on board a ship for use thereon and are removable but not of a consumable nature, including accessories, such as lifeboats, life-saving devices, furniture, ship's apparel and similar items;

(g) 'ship's spare parts' means articles of a repair or replacement nature for incorporation into the ship in which they are carried;

(h) 'crew's effects' means clothing, items in everyday use and other articles, which may include currency, belonging to the crew and carried on the ship;

(i) 'crew member' means any person actually employed for duties on board during a voyage in the working or service of a ship and included in the crew list;

(j) 'passenger` means any person on a ship other than crew members and children under one year of age.

Article 4 - Acceptance of Forms

Member States shall accept that the reporting formalities referred to in Article 2 are satisfied by information, which is submitted in accordance with:

(a) the respective specifications set out in Annex I, Parts B and C, and

(b) the corresponding model forms set out in Annex II with their categories of data.

Article 5 - Amendment procedure

Any amendments of the Annexes and references to IMO instruments in order to bring them into line with Community or IMO measures which have entered into force shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 6(2).

Article 6 - Committee

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the committee instituted by Article 12(1) of Council Directive 93/75/EEC [11].

[11] OJ L 247, 5.10.1993, p. 19. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 98/74/EC (OJ L 276, 13.10.1998, p. 7).

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure laid down in Article 5 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, in compliance with Article 7 and Article 8 thereof.

3. The period provided for in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be three months.

Article 7 - Implementation

Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 30 June 2002 at the latest. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made.

Article 8 - Entry into Force

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 9 - Addressees

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

ANNEX I

Part A

List of Reporting Formalities Referred to in Article 2 in respect of Ships Arriving in and Departing from Community Ports

1. IMO FAL Form 1, General Declaration

The General Declaration shall be the basic document on arrival and departure providing information required by the authorities of a Member State relating to the ship.

2. IMO FAL Form 3, Ship's Stores Declaration

The Ship's Stores Declaration shall be the basic document on arrival and departure providing information required by authorities of a Member State relating to ship's stores.

3. IMO FAL Form 4, Crew's Effects Declaration

The Crew's Effects Declaration shall be the basic document providing information required by the authorities of a Member State relating to crew's effects. It shall not be required on departure.

4. IMO FAL Form 5, Crew List

The Crew List shall be the basic document providing the authorities of a Member State with the information relating to the number and composition of the crew on the arrival and departure of a ship. Where the authorities require information about the crew of a ship on its departure, a copy of the Crew List, presented on arrival, shall be accepted on departure if signed again and endorsed to indicate any change in the number of composition of the crew or to indicate that no such change has occurred.

5. IMO FAL Form 6, Passenger List

For ships certified to carry 12 passengers or fewer, the Passenger List shall be the basic document providing the authorities of a Member State with information relating to passengers on the arrival and departure of a ship.

Part B

Signatories

1. IMO FAL Form 1, General Declaration

The authorities of the Member State shall accept a General Declaration either dated and signed by the master, the ship's agent or some other person duly authorised by the master, or authenticated in a manner acceptable to the authority concerned.

2. IMO FAL Form 3, Ship's Stores Declaration

The authorities of the Member State shall accept a Ship's Stores Declaration either dated and signed by the master or by some other ship's officer duly authorised by the master and having personal knowledge of the facts regarding the ship's stores, or authenticated in a manner acceptable to the authority concerned.

3. IMO FAL Form 4, Crew's Effects Declaration

The authorities of the Member State shall accept a Crew's Effects Declaration either dated and signed by the master or by some other ship's officer duly authorised by the master, or authenticated in a manner acceptable to the authority concerned. The authorities of the Member State may also require each crewmember to place his signature, or, if he is unable to do so, his mark, against the declaration relating to his effects.

4. IMO FAL Form 5, Crew List

The authorities of a Member State shall accept a Crew List either dated and signed by the master or by some other ship's officer duly authorised by the master, or authenticated in a manner acceptable to the authority concerned.

5. IMO FAL Form 6, Passenger List

For ships certified to carry 12 passengers or fewer, the authorities of a Member State shall accept a Passenger List either dated and signed by the master, the ship's agent or some other person duly authorised by the master, or authenticated in a manner acceptable to the authority concerned.

Part C

Technical Specifications

1. The formats of the IMO FAL Forms shall follow the proportions of the models shown in Annex II as closely as technically possible. They shall be printed on separate A4 size paper sheets (210x297 mm) with portrait orientation. At least 1/3 of the verso side of the Forms shall be reserved for official use by the authorities of the Member States.

For the purposes of the recognition of IMO FAL Forms, the formats and layouts of the Standardised Facilitation Forms recommended and reproduced by the IMO based on the IMO FAL Convention as in force on 1 May 1997 shall be considered equivalent to the formats reproduced in Annex II.

2. The authorities of the Member State shall accept information conveyed by any legible and understandable medium, including forms filled in ink or indelible pencil or produced by automatic data-processing techniques.

3. Without prejudice to methods of transmitting data through electronic means, when a Member State accepts the provision of ship's reporting information in electronic form, the format of the outcome on the end-user screen and when printed shall follow the models in Annex II.

In case of electronic transmission of a Form, the image on the end-user screen can differ from the actual A4-size but has to follow its proportions.

* * * * *

ANNEX II

Models of IMO FAL Forms referred to in Article 4 and Annex I

For reasons of reproduction, the models in this Annex are shown on the scale of 4:5 in relation to an A4-size sheet.

>TABLE POSITION>

>TABLE POSITION>

>TABLE POSITION>

>TABLE POSITION>

>TABLE POSITION>

IMPACT ASSESSMENT FORM THE IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL ON BUSINESS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES( SMEs)

Title of proposal

Proposal for Directive 2000/.../EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning reporting formalities for ships arriving in and departing from Community ports.

Document reference number

COM(...).....final of

The proposal

1. Taking account of the principle of subsidiarity, why is Community legislation necessary in this area and what are its main aims-

The Treaty provides for the establishment of a common transport policy and the measures to implement such a policy include measures aimed to enhance maritime transport, employment in the maritime sector and sustainable mobility.

The Community has an interest in making shipping more attractive to transport users and also promoting it as an alternative and complement to congested land transport. The Commission has in fact advocated a comprehensive approach to make, in particular, short sea shipping a real door-to-door concept with one-stop shops.

The Commission Communication on short sea shipping (COM(1999) 317 final) identified areas that hamper the development of shipping from reaching its full potential. Documentary and administrative burden, and, in particular, the diversity of administrative documents required by different Member States for the same purpose was identified as such an obstacle. The Communication recognised that facilitation measures, such as increased uniformity in the formats of documents, should be pursued. Even though the Communication concerned short sea shipping, there does not seem to be any justification to exclude deep sea shipping from the scope of facilitation.

Most Member States already now base several of the documents required for ships to arrive in or depart from ports on model forms elaborated under the auspices of the IMO at global level. However, the applications of those standardised models differ to an extent necessary to address. Some Member States accept the IMO Facilitation documents in their model form but not for all purposes. And certain Member States require national forms or applied IMO FAL forms to be used. Community action is necessary to introduce uniformity to the situation.

The impact on business

2. Who will be affected by the proposal-

- which sectors of business

- which sizes of business (what is the concentration of small and medium-sized firms)

- are there particular geographical areas of the Community where these businesses are found

The business sectors affected by the proposal are all shipping companies operating maritime transport services to/from/between Community ports. In addition, companies working in sectors ancillary to shipping operations, such as shipping agents, shippers and forwarders will be affected.

The proposal affects large as well as small and medium-sized companies because there is no justification to exclude any of them from the facilitation proposed. The number of EU controlled fleet was in 1999 about 8400 ships with a total of 240 million dwt. The employment in the EU sea transport has been directly around 146.000 people.

The proposal does not make a distinction between trade or flag. Therefore, it affects all companies, whatever their nationality or place of establishment, operating within European or in ocean trade to/from Europe. Short sea shipping services in the Mediterranean, Baltic Sea and the Black Sea will also be affected.

3. What will business have to do to comply with the proposal-

The proposal does not imply any requirements for businesses. All requirements are directed towards Member States.

4. What economic effects is the proposal likely to have-

- on employment

- on investment and the creation of new businesses

- on the competitiveness of businesses

The proposal is expected to have beneficial effects on employment, especially in the short sea sector, since it aims to facilitate the procedures in shipping and, thereby, increase its attractiveness. It can be noted that growth of shipping should also have beneficial effects on other ancillary activities such as shipbuilding.

Making short sea shipping more attractive to customers should increase its market share and create new investment opportunities and businesses. Facilitation can also be considered beneficial to the competitiveness of shipping in comparison with other transport modes and to the competitiveness of Europe in relation to the global markets.

5. Does the proposal contain measures to take account of the specific situation of small and medium-sized firms (reduced or different requirements etc)-

No specific measures are foreseen to take account of the specific situation of small and medium-sized firms because facilitation covers them all and no requirements are put on firms of any size.

Consultation

6. List the organisations which have been consulted about the proposal and outline their main views.

- Maritime Industries Forum (including shipowners, shippers, ports etc.);

- Short Sea Shipping Focal Points (representatives of national maritime authorities responsible for promoting short sea shipping) in their capacity of Focal Points and not government representatives.

The industry has for a long time asked for facilitation of documents and administration in shipping. The proposal meets part of their request and benefits a positive response.

From the point of view of promoting short sea shipping, the Focal Points have also considered facilitation appropriate. As to the general framework of the proposal, they have expressed themselves in a positive manner.

In addition to the organisations and persons specifically consulted, the Transport Council invited in its Resolution of 14 February 2000 on the promotion of short sea shipping the Commission to present proposals as regards uniform application of IMO FAL forms in the Community. Also the European Parliament in its Resolution, adopted on 7 July 2000, on the Commission Communication believes it to be particularly important to simplify and streamline administrative formalities and documents.

* * * * *