COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the recognition of professional qualifications in inland navigation and repealing Council Directive 91/672/EEC and Council Directive 96/50/EC
Date: 2016-02-18
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, crew, inland waterway shipping, professional qualifications, recognition of vocational training qualifications, vessel

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   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.2.2016  SWD(2016) 36 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  Accompanying the document Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the recognition of professional qualifications in inland navigation and repealing Council Directive 91/672/EEC and Council Directive 96/50/EC {COM(2016) 82 final} {SWD(2016) 35 final}  
 
 
A. Need for action 

Why? What is the problem?  
Inland waterway transport (IWT) is a cost-saving and energy-efficient transport mode that has a lot of spare 
capacity to support EU energy efficiency, growth and industrial development goals. The future contribution of 
the  IWT  sector  to  these  EU  policy  goals  is  however  hampered  by  difficulties  in  terms  of  labour  mobility, 
manpower shortages and skills mismatches. Despite attempts by the sector to tackle the problems at bilateral 
and  multilateral  level,  these  difficulties  prevent  inland  navigation  from  fully  contributing  to  improving  the 
efficiency  of  multimodal  logistics  on  which  European  industries  depend  for  their  competitiveness  and  further 
growth. Two problem drivers are identified: 1) Workers face difficulties with mutual recognition of professional 
qualifications; 2) Knowledge of specific situations (KSS) requirements may create unnecessary labour mobility 
barriers. It is expected that the problems and their drivers will continue to be present in the period from 2030 to 
2050.  
What is this initiative expected to achieve?  
The  general  objective  is  to  help  build  up  the  internal  IWT  labour  market  so  that  the  IWT  sector  can  fully 
contribute  to  EU  policy  objectives  for  fuel  savings  as  expressed  in  the  Energy  Union  package  and  restore 
industry’s  weight  in  the  EU’s  GDP  to  20 %  by  strengthening  the  EU’s  industrial  base.  The  related  specific 
objective  is  to  facilitate  labour  mobility  in  the  IWT  sector by  ensuring  that  the  recognition of  qualifications  of 
skilled workers is based on the competencies needed on board vessels. This leads to the following operational 
objectives:  1)  Ensure  mutual  recognition  of  professional  qualifications  of  workers;  2)  Ensure  that  KSS 
requirements are proportionate to their safety goal and do not unnecessarily hamper labour mobility.  
What is the added value of action at EU level?  
Despite decade-long efforts by Member States and River Commissions to tackle difficulties in the EU labour 
market  at  bilateral  and  multilateral  level,  barriers  to  workers’ mobility  persist.  The  current organisational  and 
legal frameworks governing the sector have proved to be a significant obstacle to solving these problems. A 
new EU regulatory framework relying upon the recently created CESNIi will extend the scope of the EU legal 
framework to include the Rhine river, representing 67 % of total IWT transport, and will establish fair, safe and 
competence-based access to the profession. This enhancement of the EU internal market for IWT is essential 
for  improving  the  energy  efficiency  of  transport,  for  developing  the  EU’s  industrial  base  and  for  efficient 
functioning of the TEN-T Network.  

B. Solutions 
What legislative and non-legislative policy options have been considered? Is there a preferred option?  
The  following  policy  options  are  considered:  A)  Baseline  scenario  B)  Initiatives  taken  by  the  sector  with  EU 
support  C)  Recognition  of  professional  qualifications  based  on  minimum  competence  requirements  for 
boatmen  and  boatmasters,  differentiated  in  two  suboptions:  C1  including  examination  standards  for  training 
and education institutes and C2 excluding examination standards for training and education institutes. 
Taking into account effectiveness, efficiency and coherence, option C is to be preferred over options A and B. 
Under  option  C,  suboption  C1  is  judged  to  be  slightly  more  effective  and  efficient  than  suboption  C2.  The 
Impact  Assessment  Report  leaves  it  up  to  the  political  decision-makers  in  the  College  of  Commissioners  to 
decide on the preferred policy suboption under option C. 
Who supports which option?  
The preferred option and its two suboptions are in line with stakeholders’ opinions expressed both in the online 
public consultation and in the Common Expert Group (CEG). Stakeholders indicated a high level of support for 
regulatory  measures  in  relation  to  the  harmonisation  of  professional  requirements,  qualifications  and 
examinations,  whereas  the  introduction  of  voluntary  measures  received  much  less  support.  There  was  no 
support for leaving the initiative to the sector or for continuation of the status quo.  

C. Impacts of the preferred option 

What are the main benefits of the preferred option?  
Option C improves labour mobility in particular through the recognition of qualifications on the Rhine for 
boatmasters  and operational workers.  Around  15 %  of  the  holders  of  EU boatmasters'  certificates  who 
are  currently  excluded  from  navigating  the  Rhine  would  have  their  EU  certificate  a utomatically 
recognised  on  the  Rhine.  Furthermore,  boatmasters  that  already  navigate  the  Rhine  under  the  CCNR 
bilateral  arrangements  would  enjoy  benefits  as  the  limitations  inherent  in  these  arrangements 1  will 
disappear.  The  establishment  of  EU  relevance  criteria  for  knowledge  of  specific  situations  (KSS)  and 
the possibility for boatmasters to take KSS exams in their own country will further promote mobility . The 
positive  impact  for  operational  workers,  who  are  twice  as  numerous  as  boatmasters,  is  even  more 
significant. They will no longer be downgraded due to non-recognition of their qualifications. 

1 For instance, boatmasters from all Member States except Germany (10 000 boatmasters in total) have to meet 
additional conditions for the recognition of their boatmaster certificate.  

2 

 
 
                                                 
The new inflow of skilled crew members will improve  safety (with benefits estimated at € 190 million by 
2050).  Finally,  job  quality/attractiveness  will  improve  because  of  safety  and  due  to  improved  work 
autonomy and career development prospects (with wage benefits for workers estimated at € 50 million 
by 2050). The benefits of suboption C1 are slightly higher than for C2. The recognition of diplomas and 
training  certificates  giving  automatic  access  to  the  profession  without  having  additional  examinations 
imposed by an administrative authority will increase attractiveness and reduce administrative burden.   
The indirect effects of enhancing the internal market for IWT labour are significant. By addressing one of the 
barriers  to  development  of  the  IWT  sector,  the  efficiency  of  multimodal  logistics  —  an  important 
competitiveness factor for the EU’s industries — would increase, thereby underpinning the development of the 
EU’s industrial base.  
What are the main costs of the preferred option?  
Option  C  will  require  one-off  investment  costs  estimated  at  € 8  million  for  suboption  C1  (borne 
exclusively  by  the  public sector)  and € 5.6  million for  suboption  C2  (borne  by  the  public  sector  and  by 
IWT training institutes). The main costs come from the introduction of the practical exam at boatmaster 
level  where  this  does  not  yet  exist  and,  under  suboption  C1,  from  the  adjustments  that  training 
institutes  have  to  make.  The  recurrent  benefits  in  terms  of  administrative  savings  (€ 13.2  million  by 
2050 due to the new medical check-up frequency) would by themselves already outweigh the recurrent 
administrative costs (€ 6 million for suboption C1 and € 8 million for suboption C2).These  costs mainly 
relate  to  the  mandatory  examination  to  test  competencies  at  boatman  and  boatmaster  levels  where  it 
does  not  yet  exist  and,  in  the  case  of  suboption  C1  only,  to  the  recognition/accreditation  system  for 
exam  programmes  in  training  institutes.  Suboption  C1  would  be  less  costly  than  C2  overall,  but  more 
costly  for  the  public  sector  and  less  costly  for  the  private  sector  (due  to  the  exemption  from  taking 
administrative exams for workers with recognised training).  
How will businesses, SMEs and micro-enterprises be affected?  
The  private  IWT  sector  is  almost  exclusively  composed  of  SMEs  and  micro-enterprises.  Therefore  all  direct 
private  sector  impacts  described  in  this  report  are  for  SMEs  and  micro-enterprises  only.  Increased  labour 
mobility will help SMEs to recruit staff from across the EU, thereby reducing labour shortages. Competence-
based qualifications will increase safety and reduce accident costs. Increased attractiveness of the profession 
will  help  SMEs  to  expand  their  business.  SMEs  would  only  bear  a  small  proportion  of  the  overall  costs  (in 
particular for participation of crew in administrative exams), which are largely borne by the public sector. The 
costs for SMEs would be widely offset by the benefits described above. Reduction of administrative burden for 
SMEs  under  suboption  C1  would  be  substantially  lower  than  for  C2,  due  to  the  exemption  from  taking 
administrative exams for already qualified personnel. Indirect private sector impacts are significant and relate 
to the advantages of a developing IWT sector for EU industries including SMEs, by improving the efficiency of 
multimodal logistic chains, an important competitiveness factor for export-oriented SMEs.  
Will there be significant impacts on national budgets and administrations?  
The  costs  of  the  preferred  option  will  mainly  be  borne  by  national  administrations  and  training  institutes.  All 
Member States will not be affected in the same way. Costs and benefits will depend on the region, the pre-
existing  situation  and  decisions  on  the  uptake  of  optional  measures.  Overall,  the  benefits  will  outweigh  the 
costs by a wide margin. 
Will there be other significant impacts?  
The  preferred  option  will  have  a  positive  impact  on  employment.  By  stimulating  job  mobility  across 
European  regions, it will reduce  the  supply-demand  gap  and help to fill existing vacancies. As a result, a 
more  attractive  energy-efficient  IWT  sector  will  help  to  improve  the  overall  fuel  efficiency  of  EU  transport. 
Furthermore, it is to be noted that several measures in the various policy options will affect different European 
regions in a distinctive way as described in section 6.2.5 of the Impact Assessment Report. 

When will the policy be reviewed?  
The Commission services will monitor the implementation and effectiveness of this initiative through a set of 
core progress indicators. It is expected that the Commission services will carry out an evaluation seven years 
from the date following the end of the period for transposition of the proposed legislation. 

D. Follow-up 

i Comité Européen pour l’élaboration des standards pour la navigation intérieure 

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