COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 establishing a European Maritime Safety Agency
Date: 2012-10-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU office or agency, accident prevention, budget, institutional structure, maritime safety, operation of the Institutions, pollution from ships

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 16.10.2012  
COM(2012) 606 final 

2010/0303 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 establishing a European 
Maritime Safety Agency 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
2010/0303 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 establishing a European 
Maritime Safety Agency 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2010) 611 final – 2010/303 COD): 

28 October 2010 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

16 February 2011 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

15 December 2011 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N/A 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

4 October 2012 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The  objective  of  the  proposal  is  to  amend  Regulation  1406/2002  by  clarifying  EMSA's 
existing tasks and role as well as by extending EMSA's tasks to new areas under development 
at international  and/or EU level. Regulation  1406/2002  has  been  modified  three  times  since 
2002, mainly due to the evolution of the EU's maritime transport legislation.  

The  Commission  proposal  suggests  maintaining  EMSA's  current  objectives  and  tasks. 
However,  they  need  some  further  clarification  and  to  define  more  precisely  EMSA’s 
assistance to the Commission, to the Member States and to other parties. Some new tasks to 
EMSA  arise  from  the  implementation  of  the  2009  third  maritime  safety  package,  covering 
Port  State  Control,  classification  societies,  vessel  traffic  monitoring,  accident  investigation, 
indemnity of passengers, Flag State requirements and liability of shipowners. 

In the area of research, EMSA should become closer involved in EU maritime research and - 
through the analysis of research projects - identify the possible follow-up  from a regulatory 
perspective. 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
 
 
The proposal also aims at clarifying EMSA’s technical assistance to the Commission and to 
the Member States in various international and regional organisations. Furthermore, some of 
the high-value operational services operated by EMSA (SafeSeaNet, CleanSeaNet, LRIT, Port 
State  Control  etc.)  can  contribute  significantly  to  other  EU-policies,  for  example  the 
integrated  approach  to  maritime  surveillance  under  the  integrated  EU  maritime  policy.  In 
addition  EMSA  should  be  able  to  help  with  assessing  and  analysing  the  contribution  of 
shipping  related  pressures  such  as  ballast  water,  marine  litter  and  underwater  noise  in  the 
marine  environment.  This  revision  also  clarifies  that  EMSA's  response  capabilities  can  be 
used  in  case  of  marine  pollution  caused  by  other  sources  than  vessels,  notably  by  oil 
platforms.  The  proposal  also  tries  to  make  it  easier  to  increase  technical  cooperation  with 
neighbouring  countries.  Limited  additional  resources  for  EMSA  are  foreseen  through  this 
revision which is in line with the legislative financial statement attached to the proposal. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  position  of  the  Council  reflects  the  political  agreement  reached  between  the  European 
Parliament and the Council on 12 April 2012. The Commission supports this agreement. The 
Commission has made four statements to clarify the understanding. The four statements are 
attached in the annex. 

The  Council  has  made  a  distinction  between  core  and  ancillary  tasks.  All  Commission 
objectives  with  regard  to  EMSA's  tasks  have  been  adequately  reflected  in  the  final  text,  in 
some  cases  additional  safeguards  or  limitations  are  foreseen.  This  gives  EMSA  a  clear 
mandate for the future. While focus remains on maritime safety, it allows EMSA to contribute 
with its expertise and tools to other EU policies in the interest of creating EU added value in 
the  most  efficient  way.  It  seems  possible  to  implement  the  new  mandate  with  the  resources 
identified  in  the  legislative  financial  statement  attached  to  the  initial  Commission  proposal. 
The Commission accepts the revised methodology for EMSA's visits to Member States as it 
appropriately covers the policy concerns of the Commission.  

4. 

STATEMENTS BY THE COMMISSION 

The Commission has made four statements which can be found in the annex. 

5. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission supports the results of the inter-institutional negotiations and can therefore 
accept the Council's position at first reading. 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
ANNEX  
Statements by the Commission 

1. 

STATEMENT ON MARITIME SECURITY INSPECTIONS 

With  regard  to  the  technical  assistance  the  Agency  is  providing  to  the  Commission  in  the 
performance  of  maritime  security  inspection  tasks  as  referred  to  in  Article  2(2)(b),  the 
Commission  confirms  that  this  provision  does  not  affect  the  character  of  maritime  security 
inspections as foreseen by Commission Regulation (EC) No 324/2008 of 9 April 2008 laying 
down  revised  procedures  for  conducting  Commission  inspections  in  the  field  of  maritime 
security. 

In  particular,  this  provision  does  neither  extend  the  Commission  powers  to  undertake 
inspections  nor  does  it  confer  any  power  to  EMSA  for  carrying  out  maritime  security 
inspections on its own. 

2. 

STATEMENT ON UNION COMPETENCE 

With  regard  to  the  technical  assistance  for  the  Member  States  and  the  Commission  to 
contribute to the relevant work of the technical bodies of IMO, the Commission understands 
the  notion  of  competence  in  the  sense  of  the  Treaty  as  encompassing  the  notion  of  Union 
interest currently used in the EU coordination practice with regard to IMO. 

3. 

STATEMENT  ON  MARINE  STRATEGY  FRAMEWORK  DIRECTIVE  AND  GREENHOUSE 
GAS EMISSIONS FROM SHIPS 

With regard to the ancillary tasks listed in Article (2a), the Commission recalls the following: 

1. 

2. 

The  Marine  Strategy  Framework  Directive  has  the  objective  to  achieve  good 
environmental status of marine waters. Some of the pressures and impacts listed in 
Table 2 of Annex III are shipping related. The Commission, which has inter alia to 
measure  progress  in  the  implementation  of  the  various  areas  covered  by  the 
Directive,  considers  it  useful  to  receive  the  Agency's  technical  assistance  for  the 
shipping-related  elements,  in  particular  through  exploiting  the  results  of  existing 
tools such as SafeSeaNet and CleanSeaNet; 

With regard to greenhouse gas emissions from ships, the Commission considers that 
the Agency's potential technical assistance should not be limited to the calculation of 
emissions,  as  this  could  be  seen  as  an  EU  preference  for  a  certain  market-based 
instrument.  Furthermore,  the  Commission  considers  that  any  technical  assistance 
provided  by  EMSA  will  not  affect  the  EU's  position  with  regard  to  a  global  or 
regional situation. 

4. 

STATEMENT ON CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES FOR INLAND WATERWAY VESSELS 

The Commission takes the view that the provision of relevant information by the Agency to 
the Commission as foreseen in Article 2a (2) (f) can be undertaken on the basis of EMSA's 
existing expertise and therefore does not require additional resources for inspections. 

EN 

4 

   EN