(1)

Articles 1 to 3 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 1 Objectives 1. This Regulation establishes a European Maritime Safety Agency (‘the Agency’). The Agency shall act in the interest of the Union. 2. The Agency shall provide the Member States and the Commission with the technical and scientific assistance needed and with a high level of expertise, in order to help them to apply Union legislation properly in the field of maritime safety, maritime security, prevention of with a view to ensuring a high, uniform and efficient level of maritime safety and security, using their existing capabilities for assistance, preventing and tackling marine pollution caused by ships , including from offshore oil and gas installations, developing a European maritime space without barriers , to monitor its implementation and to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures in place. [Am. 29] 3. The Agency shall provide Member States and the Commission with technical and scientific assistance in the field of accidental or deliberate marine pollution and support, on request, with additional means in a cost-efficient way, the pollution response mechanisms of Member States, without prejudice to the responsibility of coastal States to have appropriate pollution response mechanisms in place and respecting existing cooperation between Member States in this field. It shall act in support of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism established by Council Decision 2007/779/EC, Euratom of 8 November 2007 establishing a Community Civil Protection Mechanism (10) (11). Article 2 Tasks of the Agency 1. In order to ensure that The objectives set out in Article 1 are met in the appropriate manner, the Agency shall perform represent the primary responsibilities of the Agency and must be met as a priority. The attribution to the Agency of the tasks listed in paragraph 2 of this Article in the fields of shall ensure that there is no duplication of efforts and shall be subject to the proper performance of the tasks relating to maritime safety and maritime security, the prevention of pollution caused by ships and response to marine pollution at the request of the Member States or the Commission . [Am. 30] 2. The Agency shall assist the Commission: (a) in the preparatory work for updating and developing relevant Union law, in particular in line with the development of international legislation in the field of maritime safety and maritime security; (b) in the effective implementation of relevant Union law, in particular by carrying-out inspections as referred to in Article 3 of this Regulation and by providing technical assistance to the Commission in the performance of the inspection tasks assigned to it pursuant to Article 9(4) of Regulation (EC) No 725/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on enhancing ship and port facility security (12) (13); it may address suggestions to the Commission for any possible improvements of relevant Union law; (ba) in the provision of technical assistance to the Commission in the performance of the monitoring tasks assigned to it pursuant to Article 13(2) of Directive 2005/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on enhancing port security (14); [Am. 31] (c) in the provision updating and development of technical assistance provisions necessary to take part in the work of the technical bodies of the IMO, the ILO, the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control and other relevant international or regional organisations; [Am. 32] (d) in the development and implementation of Union's policies related to the Agency's tasks such , particularly those in the field of maritime safety as well as Motorways of the Sea, the European maritime space without barriers, the ‘Blue Belt’ project, e-maritime, inland waterways, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, climate change and in the analysis of the safety of mobile offshore gas and oil oil and gas installations and combating pollution ; [Am. 33] (da) in the exchange of information concerning any other policy which may be appropriate given its areas of competence and its expertise; [Am. 34] (e) in the implementation of Union's programmes related to the Agency's tasks such as the „Global Monitoring for Environment and Security” (GMES) and cooperation programmes with European Neighbourhood countries; (ea) in the development and implementation of a policy to enhance the quality of the training of European seafarers, and in promoting maritime careers, taking account of the demand for highly qualified labour in the EU maritime cluster; [Am. 35] (f) in the analysis of ongoing and completed research projects relevant to the fields of activity of the Agency; this shall include the identification of possible regulatory follow-up measures resulting from specific research projects and the identification of key themes and priorities for further research at EU level; [Am. 36] (fa) in the development of requirements or any guidance relating to the licensing of oil and gas exploration and production in the marine environment and, in particular, the environmental and civil protection aspects thereof; [Am. 37] (g) in the performance of any task assigned to it by existing and future Union law in the relevant field. 3. The Agency shall work with the Member States to: (a) organise, where appropriate, relevant training activities in fields which are the responsibility of the port State, flag State and coastal State; (b) develop technical solutions, including the provision of relevant services, and provide technical assistance related to the implementation of Union law; (ba) support the monitoring of the recognised organisations that carry out certification tasks on behalf of the Member States in accordance with Article 9 of Directive 2009/15/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations (15) without prejudice to the rights and obligations of the flag State; [Am. 38] (bb) assist the Commission in completing the tasks described in Articles 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations (16), and advise on the application and implementation of Article 10 of that Regulation; [Am. 39] (c) support with additional means in a cost efficient way, through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism established by Decision 2007/779/EC, Euratom, their pollution response actions in case of accidental or deliberate marine pollution, when such a request has been presented; in this respect, the Agency shall assist the affected Member State under which the cleaning operations are conducted , by providing the appropriate technical resources ; [Am. 40] (ca) gather and analyse data on the qualifications and employment of seafarers so as to share best practice in the training of seafarers across Europe; [Am. 41] (cb) coordinate the training schools’ programmes to ensure consistency; [Am. 42] (cc) facilitate the establishment of Erasmus type exchanges between maritime training institutions; [Am. 43] (cd) provide technical expertise in the field of shipbuilding or any other relevant activity related to maritime traffic, so as to develop the use of environment-friendly technologies and ensure a high level of security. [Am. 44] 4. The Agency shall assist the Member States and the Commission in the following: (a) in the field of traffic monitoring, the Agency shall in particular promote cooperation between riparian States in the shipping areas concerned in the fields covered by Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system (17) (18), develop and operate any information system necessary for attaining the objectives of that Directive. Additionally, it shall contribute to the development of the Common Information Sharing Environment for the EU maritime domain; (aa) in supporting the actions they take to combat illegal traffic and acts of piracy, by providing data and information which may facilitate operations and, in particular, by using its Automatic Identification Systems and satellite images; [Am. 45] (ab) in developing and implementing a macro-regional Union policy relating to the fields of activity of the Agency; [Am. 46] (b) regarding the investigation of maritime accidents in accordance with Directive 2009/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector (19) (20); the Agency shall , if requested by the competent Member States, provide support to the Member States in the conduct of investigations related to serious maritime accidents, and it shall carry out analysis of accident investigation reports with a view to identifying added value at EU level in terms of lessons to be learnt . In this connection, the Agency shall be invited to assist the Member States during accident investigations involving (costal and offshore) maritime installations including accidents affecting oil and gas installations while the Member States shall be invited to cooperate in a full and timely manner with the Agency ; [Am. 47] (ba) regarding oil spills from offshore installations, the Agency shall assist the Member States and the Commission by using its CleanSeaNet service to monitor the extent and environmental impact of such spills; [Am. 48] (bb) with respect to offshore oil and gas installations, in assessing Member States’ arrangements concerning emergency response plans and emergency preparedness, and in coordinating the oil pollution response in the event of an accident; [Am. 49] (bc) with respect to offshore installations, in ensuring independent third party oversight of the maritime aspects related to safety, prevention, protection of the environment, and contingency planning; [Am. 50] (c) in providing objective, reliable and comparable statistics, information and data, the Agency shall enable the Commission and the Member States to take the necessary steps to improve their actions and to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of existing measures. Such tasks shall include the collection, recording and evaluation of technical data, the systematic exploitation of existing databases, including their cross-fertilisation, and, where appropriate, the development of additional databases. On the basis of the data collected, the Agency shall assist the Commission in the publication of information relating to ships pursuant to Directive 2009/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on port State control (21) (22). The Agency shall also assist the Commission and the Member States in their activities to improve the identification and pursuit of ships making unlawful discharges in the context of Directive 2005/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of penalties, including criminal penalties, for pollution offences (23) (24). [Am. 51] 4a. The Agency shall compile a yearly overview of ‘marine incidents’, which shall include ‘hazardous incidents’ and ‘near misses’, based on data submitted by the relevant national bodies of Member States. This overview shall be made available annually to the European Parliament and to the Council. [Am. 91] 5. The Agency shall at the request of the Commission provide technical assistance as regards the implementation of relevant EU legislation to States applying for accession to the Union, to all European Neighbourhood partner countries , as and when applicable, and to countries taking part in the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control. [Am. 53] The Agency shall also at the request of the Commission provide assistance in case of accidental or deliberate marine pollution affecting these States, via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism established by Decision 2007/779/EC, Euratom by analogy with the conditions applicable to Member States as referred to in paragraph (3)(c) of this Article. These tasks shall be coordinated with the existing regional cooperation programmes and shall include, where appropriate, the organisation of relevant training activities. Article 3 Inspections 1. In order to perform the tasks entrusted to it and to assist the Commission in fulfilling its duties under the Treaties and in particular the assessment of the effective implementation of Union law, the Agency shall assist the Commission in reviewing environmental impact assessments and carry out inspections in the Member States , at the request of the Commission . [Am. 54] The national authorities of the Member States shall facilitate the work of the Agency's staff. In addition, the Agency shall carry out inspections on behalf of the Commission in third countries as required by Union law, in particular regarding organisations recognised by the Union in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 and the training and certification of seafarers in accordance with Directive 2008/106/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on the minimum level of training of seafarers (25) (26). 2. The operational working methods of the Agency for conducting the inspections referred to in paragraph 1 shall be subject to requirements to be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 23(2) Article 23 . [Am. 55] 3. Where appropriate, and in any case when a cycle of inspections is concluded, the Agency shall analyse reports from that cycle with a view to identifying horizontal findings and general conclusions on the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of the measures in place. The Agency shall present this analysis to the Commission for further discussion with Member States , and shall make it available to the public in an easily accessible format, including in electronic form . [Am. 56]