WRITTEN QUESTION E-1259/03 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. European Union action on the problem of recovering fuel oil from the Prestige.
Date: 2003-04-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Galicia, coastal region, fuel oil, maritime transport, oil pollution, pollution control measures, transport accident

21.11.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 280 E/121

In its Opinion on Methyldibromo Glutaronitrile Colipa No P77 SCCNFP/0585/02, final, adopted during the
20th plenary meeting of 4 June 2002 the SCCNFP stated that until appropriate and adequate information
is available to suggest a level of the preservative in leave-on products that poses an acceptable risk to the
consumer (compared with the risk to the consumer from other preservatives), its use should be restricted
to rinse-off products at the current maximum permitted level of 0,1 %.

Based on this scientific opinion and following the Comitology procedure the Commission will submit a
proposal to the Standing Committee and will take the necessary measures in order to modify accordingly
the Annex VI of the Cosmetics Directive.

(1) Council Directive 76/768/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to

cosmetic products (cid:1) OJ L 262, 27.9.1976.

(2003/C 280 E/138)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1256/03

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(3 April 2003)

Subject: Establishment of the European Maritime Safety Agency in Galicia

Taking account of the corresponding demand which has just been made by the Galician Government, will
the Commission propose that the European Maritime Safety Agency be located in Galicia, bearing in mind
its strategic position for Europe in terms of intercontinental maritime traffic, following the accidents which
have hit Galicia in recent years?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(12 May 2003)

The Commission has indeed received a fully documented application on behalf of the Galicien government,
proposing to host in Galicia the European Maritime Safety Agency.

While there is no doubt about the value of this initiative, the decision of the Agency location remains a
responsibility of the Council.

Pending a Council decision on the final location of a number of new Community Agencies (including the
Maritime Safety Agency), the Commission has decided to host provisionally this Agency in its own
premises in Brussels.

(2003/C 280 E/139)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1259/03

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(3 April 2003)

Subject: European Union action on the problem of recovering fuel oil from the Prestige

What actual technical and financial measures have ensued from the Commission’s position that recovering
fuel oil from the Prestige represents a problem for the whole of the EU?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 2003)

The Commission would refer to the Honourable Member to its reply it gave to Oral Question H-069/03
by Mr Camillo Nogueira Roman during question time at Parliament’s March 2003 session (1) and to his
Written Question E- 3595/02 (2).

C 280 E/122

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

21.11.2003

The Commission wishes to remind him that a report on action to deal with the effects of the Prestige
disaster was adopted on 5 March 2003. This report concerns past, present and future actions undertaken
at Community level in order to remedy the consequences of the Prestige disaster and to prevent similar
accidents from occurring in the future. It has been submitted to the European Council of 21 March 2003.

(1) Written reply, 11.3.2003.
(2) OJ C 242 E, 9.10.2003, p. 63.

(2003/C 280 E/140)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1262/03

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(3 April 2003)

Subject: Amendment of the international compensation and liability mechanism under the International

Convention on Civil Liability

In the communication from the Commission to the Council of 5 March 2003 (1) on action to deal with the
effects of the Prestige disaster, the Commission proposes amending the international compensation and
liability mechanism under the International Convention on Civil Liberty in order to make the parties
responsible for pollution financially liable.

What progress has been made on this initiative? What measures have the Member States taken in this
connection?

(1) COM(2003) 105 final.

Reply

(22 July 2003)

The Council has on several occasions in recent years expressed its support for a possible revision of the
Civil Liability Convention (CLC) of 1992, which governs the liability of shipowners for oil pollution
damage. Already in its conclusions on maritime safety from December 2000, the Council called on
Member States to consider possible amendments to the applicable rules in order to render parties other
than shipowners liable, as well as the introduction of unlimited liability of shipowners in the event of
severe or deliberate infringement of their safety obligations. Similarly, in the common approach it took in
June 2001 with a view to the negotiations in the framework of
the International Oil Pollution
Compensation Fund (IOPCF) on the establishment of a supplementary oil pollution compensation fund
for the victims of oil pollution, the Council acknowledged the need for a broad examination of the issues
of liability and compensation from parties concerned to compensate for oil pollution damage and stated
that Member States should support and participate actively in the review of the 1992 regime.

More recently, the European Council of Brussels on 21 March 2003 specifically called for an increase of
the liability of maritime transport operators through the amendment of the relevant provisions of the CLC.
Finally, the Council
(Transport, Telecommunications and Energy) on 27 March 2003 underlined the
importance of the polluter-payer-principle in this context.

Against this background, Member States are actively taking part in the review of the present compensation
and liability regime, in particular in the Working Group established to this end by the Assembly of the
IOPCF in April 2000. No deadline, however, has been set for the adoption of possible modifications.

On the occasion of the meeting of the Working Group which place in February 2003, two Member States
and the European Commission submitted a proposal for a modification of the present liability regime,
introducing the possibility to breach the threshold for the loss of a shipowner’s right to limit his liability in
cases where an actual fault on behalf of the owner has been established and to channel liability to others
than the shipowner. In a second document, a Member State recommended a revision of the CLC following