European Parliament legislative resolution of 25 April 2007 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector and amending Directives 1999/35/EC and 2002/59/EC (COM(2005)0590 - C6-0056/2006 - 2005/0240(COD))
Date: 2007-04-25
Institutions: Committee on Transport and Tourism, European Parliament
Subjects: code of conduct, fact-finding mission, maritime safety, maritime transport, transport accident, transport safety

C 74 E/546

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

20.3.2008

Wednesday 25 April 2007

Article 2

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
comply with this Directive by … (*) at the latest. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the
text of those measures and a correlation table between them and this Directive.

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

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law
which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.

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

Article 3

Article 4

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at …, on …

For the European Parliament
The President

For the Council
The President

(*) 12 months after the date of entry into force of this Directive.

P6_TA(2007)0147

Investigation of accidents ***I

European Parliament legislative resolution of 25 April 2007 on the proposal for a directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council establishing the fundamental principles governing the
investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector and amending Directives 1999/35/EC
and 2002/59/EC (COM(2005)0590 — C6-0056/2006 — 2005/0240(COD))

(Codecision procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission proposal

to the European Parliament

and the Council

(COM(2005)0590) (1),

— having regard to Article 251(2) and Article 80(2) of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission

submitted the proposal to Parliament (C6-0056/2006),

(1) Not yet published in OJ.

20.3.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 74 E/547

— having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6-0079/2007);

Wednesday 25 April 2007

1.

Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend the proposal

2.
substantially or replace it with another text;

3.

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

P6_TC1-COD(2005)0240

Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 25 April 2007 with a view to the
adoption of Directive 2007/…/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the
fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector
and amending Directives 1999/35/EC and 2002/59/EC

(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,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

A high general level of safety should be maintained in maritime transport in Europe and every effort
should be made to reduce the number of marine casualties and incidents.

The expeditious holding of technical investigations into marine casualties improves maritime safety as
it helps to prevent the recurrence of such casualties resulting in loss of life, loss of ships and pollu-
tion of the marine environment.

The European Parliament, in its resolution (4) on improving safety at sea, has urged the Commission
to present a proposal for a directive on investigating shipping accidents.

Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (Unclos) (5) establishes the
right of coastal States to investigate the cause of any marine casualty occurring within their territorial
seas which might pose a risk to life or to the environment, involve the coastal State's search and
rescue authorities, or otherwise affect the coastal State.

Article 94 of Unclos establishes that flag States shall cause an inquiry to be held, by or before a
suitably qualified person or persons, into certain casualties or incidents of navigation on the high
seas.

(1) OJ C 318, 23.12.2006, p. 195.
(2) OJ C 229, 22.9.2006, p. 38.
(3) Position of the European Parliament of 25 April 2007.
(4) OJ C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 730.
(5)

Final Act of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea 1973-1982, Class Nr. 341,45 L 412 1997.