Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Committee on Safe Seas and amending the Regulations on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships
Date: 2000-09-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: International Maritime Organisation, action programme, committee (EU), maritime safety, pollution from ships

C 365 E/276

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Official Journal of the European Communities

19.12.2000

for a Regulation of

the Council concerning the
the European Parliament and of
Proposal
Committee on Safe Seas and amending the Regulations on maritime safety and the prevention
of pollution from ships

(2000/C 365 E/26)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(2000) 489 final (cid:16) 2000/0236(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 15 September 2000)

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,

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee,

the Economic and Social

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article
251 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

(1) The measures implementing the existing Regulations and
Directives in the field of maritime safety were adopted by
a regulatory procedure involving the committee set up by
Council Directive 93/75/EEC (1) and, in certain cases, an
ad hoc committee. These committees are governed by the
rules 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 (2).

(2) By its resolution of 8 June 1993 on a common policy on
safe seas, the Council approved in principle the estab-
lishment of a Committee on Safe Seas and called on the
Commission to present a proposal
to set up such a
committee.

legislation on maritime safety, and to assist and advise the
Commission on all matters of maritime safety and
prevention or reduction of pollution of the environment
by shipping activities.

(4) In keeping with the Council Resolution of 8 June 1993, a
Committee on Safe Seas should be set up and assigned the
tasks previously devolved to the committees established
under the existing Community legislation on maritime
safety. All new Community legislation adopted in the
field of maritime safety should stipulate recourse to the
Committee on Safe Seas.

(5) Decision 87/373/EEC has been replaced by Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down
the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers
conferred on the Commission (3). The purpose of
the
latter decision is to define the committee procedures
applicable and ensure more comprehensive information
to the European Parliament and the public on the work
of the committees.

(6) The pertinent provisions of Decision 1999/468/EC should
therefore be applied to the Committee on Safe Seas. As
the measures required to implement the legislation in the
field of maritime safety are measures of general scope
within the meaning of Article 2 of Decision 1999/468/EC,
they should be adopted by the regulatory procedure laid
down in Article 5 of the Decision.

(7) The existing maritime safety legislation should also be
amended to substitute the Committee on Safe Seas for
the committee set up by Directive 93/75/EEC or, where
appropriate, for the ad hoc committee established under
the particular piece of legislation. This Regulation should
in particular amend the relevant provisions of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 613/91 (4), (EC) No 2978/94 (5) and
(EC) No 3051/95 (6), in order to insert a reference to the
Committee on Safe Seas and to stipulate the regulatory
procedure
of Decision
1999/468/EC.

in Article

down

laid

5

(3) The role of the Committee on Safe Seas is to centralise the
tasks of the committees set up under the Community

(1) OJ L 247, 5.10.1993, p. 19. Last amended by Directive 98/74/EC (OJ

L 276, 13.10.1998, p. 7).
(2) OJ L 197, 18.7.1987, p. 3.

(3) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(4) OJ L 68, 15.3.1991, p. 1
(5) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 320, 30.12.1995, p. 14. Amended by Regulation (EC) No

179/98, 23.1.1998, p. 35.

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(8) Moreover, the existing Community legislation on maritime
safety is based on the application of rules resulting from
international conventions, codes and resolutions in force
at the date of adoption of the Community act in question,
or at the date specified by the latter. As a consequence,
Member States cannot apply the subsequent amendments
to these international
instruments until the Community
directives or regulations have been amended. This has
major disadvantages owing to the difficulty of getting
the date of entry into force of the amendment at the
international level to coincide with that of the regulation
integrating this amendment into Community law, not least
the
the delayed application within the Community of
most
safety
standards.

recent and most

international

stringent

their

(9) However, it is necessary to make a distinction between the
provisions of a Community act making reference, for the
purposes of
to an international
application,
instrument and Community provisions reproducing an
international instrument in full or in part. In the latter
case, the most recent amendments to the international
instruments cannot in any case be rendered applicable
until
the Community provisions concerned have been
amended.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Objective

The objective of this Regulation is to improve the implemen-
tation of
the pertinent Community legislation on maritime
safety, protection of the marine environment and shipboard
living and working conditions:

(a) by centralising the tasks of the committees set up under the
pertinent Community legislation by creating a single
committee, to be known as the Committee on Safe Seas;

(b) by facilitating the process of amending the pertinent
Community legislation in the light of developments in the
instruments applicable to maritime safety,
international
protection of
the marine environment and shipboard
living and working conditions.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions
apply:

(10) Member States should therefore be permitted to apply the
most recent provisions of international conventions, with
the exception of
those explicitly incorporated in a
Community act. This can be done by stating that the
the international convention applicable for
version of
the purposes of the directive or regulation concerned is
that >in force?, without mentioning the date.

1.

the

instruments?:

>international
conventions, protocols,
resolutions, codes, compendia of rules, circulars, standards
and provisions adopted by an international conference, the
Inter-
International Maritime Organisation (IMO),
the
the parties
national Labour Organisation (ILO),
to a
memorandum of understanding
an international
or
standards body, in the field of maritime safety, prevention
of pollution from ships and shipboard living and working
conditions.

(11) A specific

conformity

checking procedure

the Committee on Safe

should,
however, be set up to enable the Commission, after
consulting
to take
whatever measures may be necessary to exclude the risk
instruments being
of amendments to the international
legislation
incompatible with
or
Community policy on safe
in force. Such a
procedure must also prevent international amendments
from lowering the standard of maritime safety achieved
in the Community.

the Community

Seas,

seas

2.

>Community maritime legislation?: the Community acts in
force listed below:

(a) Council Regulation (EEC) No 613/91 of 4 March 1991
on the transfer of ships from one register to another
within the Community,

(12) 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 effective entry into force of the inter-
national amendment. Consequently, the time available to
the Council
in
accordance with Article 5(6) of Decision 99/468/EC
should be reduced to one month,

to act on the proposed measures

(b) Council Directive 93/75/EEC of 13 September 1993
concerning minimum requirements for vessels bound
for
carrying
dangerous or polluting goods,

leaving Community ports

and

or

(c) Council Regulation (EC) No 2978/94 of 21 November
1994 on the
IMO Resolution
implementation of
A.747(18) on the application of tonnage measurement
of ballast spaces in segregated ballast oil tankers,

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(d) Council Directive 94/57/EC of 22 November 1994 on
common rules and standards for ship inspection and
survey organisations and for the relevant activities of
maritime administrations (1),

2. Whenever reference is made to this Article, the regulatory
procedure laid down in Article 5 of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall apply, subject to the provisions of Article 7(3) and of
Article 8 of the Decision.

(e) Council Directive 94/58/EC of 22 November 1994 on

the minimum level of training of seafarers (2),

in

enforcement,

(f) Council Directive 95/21/EC of 19 June 1995 concerning
the
using
respect
Community ports and sailing in the waters under the
the Member States, of
jurisdiction of
international
standards
ship safety, pollution prevention and
for
shipboard living and working conditions (port State
control) (3),

shipping

of

(g) Council Regulation (EC) No 3051/95 of 8 December
roll-on/roll-off

1995 on the safety management of
passenger ferries,

(h) Council Directive 96/98/EC of 20 December 1996 on

marine equipment (4),

(i) Council Directive 97/70/EC of 11 December 1997
fishing

setting up a harmonised safety regime for
vessels of 24 metres in length and over (5),

(j) Council Directive 98/18/EC of 17 March 1998 on safety

rules and standards for passenger ships (6),

(k) Council Directive 98/41/EC of 18 June 1998 on the
sailing on board passenger
the Member
from ports of

registration of persons
ships operating to or
States of the Community (7),

(l) Council Directive 1999/35/EC of 29 April 1999 on a
system of mandatory surveys for the safe operation of
regular
ro-ro ferry and high speed passenger craft
services (8).

Article 3

Establishment of the Committee on Safe Seas

The Commission shall be assisted by a regulatory
1.
committee, hereinafter called the Committee on Safe Seas,
composed of
the Member States and
representatives of
chaired by the representative of the Commission.

(1) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 20. Amended by Directive 97/58/EC (OJ L

274, 7.10.1997, p. 8).

(2) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 28. Amended by Directive 98/35/EC (OJ

L 172, 17.6.1998, p. 1).

(3) OJ L 157, 7.7.1995, p. 1. Last amended by Directive 1999/97/EC

(OJ L 331, 23.12.1999, p. 67).

(4) OJ L 46, 17.2.1997, p. 25. Amended by Directive 98/85/EC (OJ L

315, 11.11.1998, p. 14).

(5) OJ L 34, 9.2.1998, p. 1. Amended by Directive 1999/19/EC (OJ L

83, 27.3.1999, p. 48).
(6) OJ L 144, 15.5.1998, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 188, 2.7.1998, p. 35.
(8) OJ L 138, 1.6.1999, p. 1.

3.
For the purposes of this Regulation, the period referred
to in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be one month.

Article 4

Conformity checking procedure

The Community Regulations and Directives

listed in
1.
in accordance with the
Article 2(2) may be amended,
in order to exclude from
procedure laid down in Article 3,
the scope of the Regulation or the Directive concerned any
amendment
instruments defined in
Article 2(1) and to which reference is made in the Regulation
or Directive.

international

to the

Such amendment
to the Community legislation shall be
possible only if there is a manifest risk that the international
lower the standard of maritime safety or
amendment will
protection of
the marine environment established by the
Community legislation on maritime safety, or be incompatible
with the latter, or if it is likely to compromise the achievement
of the Community’s objectives in the field of maritime safety.

2.
For a period of six months from the adoption at inter-
national level of an amendment to an international instrument
referred to in Article 2(1), Member States party to this
instrument shall refrain from any initiative intended to accept
or apply the amendment, in order to enable the Commission to
consult the Committee referred to in Article 3(1) on a draft
Commission regulation or directive designed, in application of
the first paragraph, to exclude the amendment
in question
the Committee is consulted
from a Community text.
within the six months’ period,
the above standstill period
shall continue until the adoption of appropriate measures.

If

3. Where the amendment to the international instrument is
subject to a tacit acceptance procedure, the Commission regu-
lation or directive excluding the new amendment from being
incorporated into Community law for the reasons set out in
the first paragraph shall be adopted in good time to enable the
Member States concerned to lodge an objection to the
amendment in question at the international level.

Article 5

Powers of the Committee on Safe Seas

The Committee on Safe Seas
shall exercise the powers
conferred on it by virtue of the Community legislation in force.

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this Regulation may be amended by the
Article 2(2) of
procedure set out in Article 3 in order to include a reference
to the Community acts that have entered into force following
the adoption of this Regulation.

by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto, and the
amendments thereof
in force, without prejudice to
any measures taken in application of Article 4 of Regu-
lation (EC) No . . ./2000 of the European Parliament
and of the Council.?

Article 6

2. Article 7 is replaced by the following:

Amendment of Regulation (EEC) No 613/91

Regulation (EEC) No 613/91 is amended as follows:

>Article 7

1. Article 1(a) is amended as follows:

(a) In the first subparagraph,

the date of
the words >at
this Regulation? are deleted and the
adoption of
following words
to any
measures taken in application of Article 4 of Regulation
(EC) No . . ./2000 of the European Parliament and of the
Council?.

added >without prejudice

(b) The final subparagraph is deleted.

2. Articles 6 and 7 are replaced by the following:

>Article 6

The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe
Seas in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
3 of Regulation (EC) No . . ./2000.?.

Article 8

Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 3051/95

Regulation (EC) No 3051/95 is amended as follows:

1. In Article 9, the words >Article 10(2)? are replaced by the

words >Article 10?.

2. Article 10 is replaced by the following:

The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe
Seas created by Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No . . ./2000.

>Article 10

Article 7

Where reference is made to this Article,
the regulatory
procedure laid down in Article 3 of Regulation (EC)
No. . ./2000 shall apply.?.

The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe
Seas in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
3 of Regulation (EC) No. . ./2000 of
the European
Parliament and of the Council.?.

Article 7

Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 2978/94

Regulation (EC) No 2978/94 is amended as follows:

1. Article 3(g) is replaced by the following:

(g)

DMarpol 73/78E:

the
>
Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as amended

International Convention for

Article 9

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following 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.