REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Directive (EU) 2016/1629 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2016 laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels, amending Directive 2009/100/EC and repealing Directive 2006/87/EC
Date: 2021-03-01
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, European standard, harmonisation of standards, inland waterway fleet, inland waterway shipping, maritime safety, powers of the institutions (EU), technical specification, technical standard, transfer of competence

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.3.2021 COM(2021) 91 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Directive (EU) 2016/1629 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2016 laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels, amending Directive 2009/100/EC and repealing Directive 2006/87/EC      
 
 
REPORT  FROM  THE  COMMISSION  TO  THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT 
AND THE COUNCIL 

on  the  exercise  of  the  delegation  conferred  on  the  Commission  pursuant  to 
Directive  (EU)  2016/1629  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  14 
September 2016 laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels, 
amending Directive 2009/100/EC and repealing Directive 2006/87/EC 

1.  INTRODUCTION 

Directive (EU) 2016/1629 establishes a new system of technical requirements for inland 
waterway  vessels,  lays  down  an  inspection  regime,  the  classification  of  the  inland 
waterways and sets out provisions on derogations for some types of vessels. 
Directive (EU) 2016/1629 introduces harmonised conditions for issuing inland navigation 
certificates  for  inland  waterway  vessels  in  all  Member  States.  As  a  result,  the  technical 
requirements  for  inland  waterway  vessels  are  uniform  across  all  Member  States.  This 
ensures simplification of rules, leading to high levels of safety, and contributes directly to 
creating a deeper and fairer internal market. 
The requirements are  established by making reference to  the European Standards laying 
down Technical Requirements for Inland Navigation vessels (ES-TRIN standards), drawn 
up by the European Committee for drawing up Standards in Inland Navigation (CESNI), 
which  is  an  international  body  created  in  the  framework  of  the  Central  Commission  for 
the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR). 
Not  only  does  EU  legislation  refer  to  this  standard  and  its  updates,  but  so  does  the 
legislative  framework  adopted  within  the  Central  Commission  for  the  Navigation  of  the 
Rhine (CCNR). 
This approach ensures that Union inland navigation certificates attesting that all types of 
crafts are fully compliant with the aforementioned revised technical requirements are valid 
on all EU inland waterways, including on the Rhine, and that Rhine certificates are valid 
on all EU inland waterways. 
The  availability  of  information  on  vessels  and  certificates  is  ensured  via  a  dedicated 
database (European Hull Database - EHDB), which ensures that Member State authorities 
can effectively implement the safety requirements for vessels. 

Directive (EU) 2016/1629 was adopted on 14 September 2016 and entered into force on 6 
October 2016 with the date of transposition and application of 7 October 2018. 

According to Article 4(2) of Directive (EU) 2016/1629 “the Commission is empowered to 
adopt delegated acts concerning amendments to Annex I so as to modify the classification 
of a waterway, including the addition and deletion of waterways”.  
Article  19(7)  of  Directive  (EU)  2016/1629  empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt 
delegated acts specifying provisions for the European Hull Databse (EHDB) in areas of: 

(a) the data to be entered in the database by Member States; 

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(b) the types of access permitted, taking into account the categories of the recipients of 
data and the purposes for which such data are processed; 
(c) the instructions regarding the use and operation of the database, in particular with 
respect to data security measures, encoding and processing of data and interconnection 
of the database with the registers referred to in Article 17. 

Article 31 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts to amend Annexes II - VI to 
Directive (EU) 2016/1629. 
In  accordance  with  Article  31(1)  “the  Commission  shall  adopt  delegated  acts  to  adapt 
Annex II to  update, without  undue delay, the reference to  the most recent  version of  the 
ES-TRIN standard and to set the date of its application”. 
Art.  31(3)  gives  power  to  the  Commission  “to  adopt  delegated  acts  concerning  the 
adaptations of Annexes III and IV to scientific and technical progress”. 
Art.  31(4)  empowers  the  Commission  “to  adopt  delegated  acts  concerning  the 
adaptations of Annex V to update and streamline administrative provisions”. 
In line with Art. 31(5) “the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts concerning 
the  adaptations  of  Annex  VI  to  amend  the  criteria  for  the  recognition  of  classification 
societies to ensure safety of navigation”. 
Article 31(6) further states that “the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in 
order to update the references in this Directive to certain provisions of Annexes II and V 
in order to take into account the amendments brought to these Annexes.”. 

2.  LEGAL BASIS 

The present Report is required by Article 32(2) of Directive (EU) 2016/1629. Pursuant to 
this  provision,  the  delegation  is  conferred  on  the  Commission  for  a  period  of  five  years 
from 6 October 2016  and the Commission is required to make a report in respect of the 
delegated powers not  later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The 
same  Article  states  that  the  delegation  of  power  shall  be  tacitly  extended  for  periods  of 
identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension 
no later than three months before the end of each period.  

3.  EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

Since the entry into force of Directive (EU) 2016/1629, up to the date of the adoption of 
the present report, the Commission adopted the following delegated acts: 
1)  Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2018/970 of 18 April 2018 amending Annexes 
II,  III  and  V  to  Directive  (EU)  2016/1629  –  based  on  Article  31(1),  (3)  and  (4). 
Provisions of this delegated act amended Annex II to the most current version of ES-
TRIN 2017.  In Annex  III, Paragraph 2 has  been  updated in  order to  ensure improve 
consistency with the provisions of the ES-TRIN standard. The said paragraph 2 covers 
the  provisions  on  “Strength”  as  well  as  “Stability”,  by  analogy  with  Article  3.02  of 
ES-TRIN. 

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The ES-TRIN standard 2017/1 includes special provisions for the traditional craft. To 
keep the consistency between requirements of Directive (EU) 2016/1629 and the ES-
TRIN standard, as well as to streamline the procedural provisions, it was necessary to 
amend  Annex  V  to  the  Directive  regarding  detailed  procedural  provisions.  The 
delegated act was published on 10.7.2018 and entered into force on 30.07.2018 (with 
the date of transposition and application of 7.10.2018). 

2)  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/1668  of  26  June  2019  amending 
Directive  (EU)  2016/1629  (Annex  II)  –  based  on  its  Article  31(1),  (3)  and  (4). 
Provisions  of  this  delegated  act  amended  Annex  II  in  order  to  adapt  it  to  the  most 
current version of ES-TRIN 2019.  
The  delegated  act  was  published  on  7.10.2019  and  entered  into  force  on  27.10.2019 
(with the date of application of 1.1.2020). 

3)  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2020/474  of  20  January  2020  on  the 
European Hull Data Base – based on Article 19(7) of Directive (EU) 2016/1629. The 
delegated act notably sets out the data to be entered in the database by Member States, 
the  types  of  access  permitted,  taking  into  account  the  categories  of  the  recipients  of 
data and the purposes for which such data are processed, the instructions regarding the 
use and operation of the database. The provisions of the delegated act also provide for 
limited access to the EHDB (read-only access) for the national authorities responsible 
for inland waterway traffic and infrastructure management, maintaining or enforcing 
safety of navigation and collecting statistical data.  

All adopted delegated acts were transmitted to the European Parliament and the Council. 
There  were  no  extension  to  the  objection  periods  or  objections  during  the  provided 
objection periods. 

4.  EXTENSION OF THE PERIOD FOR THE DELEGATION OF POWERS 

The Commission has over the past 4 years exercised the delegated powers conferred to it 
under Directive (EU) 2016/1629. 
The  exercise  of  the  delegated  powers  enabled  the  Commission  to  adapt  the  relevant 
provisions of Directive (EU) 2016/1629 to technical progress and scientific developments 
in  order  to  maintain  the  high  level  of  safety  in  inland  navigation  and  to  follow  the 
technical  evolution.  The  Commission  considers  that  the  delegation  of  power  should  be 
tacitly extended. 

5.  CONCLUSION 

With  this  report  the  Commission  complies  with  the  reporting  requirement  under  Article 
32(2) of Directive (EU) 2016/1629 and invites the European Parliament and the Council 
to take note of this report. 

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