CELEX: 51995PC0286
Language: en
Date: 1995-06-15
Title: Amended proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) on the safety management of ro-ro passenger vessels

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
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                                            Brussels, 15.06.1995
                                            COM(95) 286 final
                                            95/ 0028 (SYN)
                          Amended proposal for a
                      COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)
         on the safety management of ro-ro passenger vessels
        (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2)
                            of the EC-Treaty)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                         EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
During its 12-16 June session, the European Parliament approved, subject to a number of
amendments, the Commission proposal for a Council Regulation on the safety management
of Ro-Ro passenger ferries'.
The Economic and Social Committee expressed its opinion on 31 May 19952.
Most of the amendments adopted by the Parliament do not affect the purpose of the draft
regulation, rather they enhance the expected effectiveness of certain provisions or clarify them.
Several amendments were accepted without reservation, some others were accepted in
substance, and subject to redrafting,
The Commission could however not accept:
                some amendments introducing new recitals since they refer to matters
                outside the scope of this            Regulation or became superfluous in
                the light of the redrafted proposals,
                the amendment to Article 7 since the initial text proposed by the Commission
                is a general safeguard clause. The new text proposed by the Parliament could
                prejudge the right to impose conditions to resume the service,
                the amendment to add a new Article 9A. Such an addition is unnecessary and
                interferes with the responsibilities of the Member States.
                Com (95) 28 final
 ---pagebreak---                      Amended proposal for a
                       Council Regulation
       on the salety management of ro-ro passenger vessels
-Original text-                                 Amended text-
                                              Recital 2bis (new)
                                 Whereas this represents one of a series of
                                 measures to improve safety at sea
                                             Fifth Recital (new)
                                 Whereas only a uniform and coherent
                                 implementation of the International Safety
                                 Management Code in all Member States
                                 can constitute a step towards the safety
                                 management of Ro-Ro passenger vessels;
                                  2-
 ---pagebreak---                    Article 2                                  Article 2
For the purpose of this Regulation and of  For the purpose of this Regulation and of
the ISM Code,                              the ISM Code,
"Ro-Ro ferry" means a seagoing             "Ro-Ro ferry" means a seagoing
passenger vessel with arrangements to      passenger vessel with arrangements to
enable road and rail vehicles to roll on   enable road and rail vehicles to roll on
and roll off the vessel, and carrying more and roll off the vessel, and carrying more
than 12 passengers;                        than 12 passengers;
                                           "Regular service" means a series of Ro-
                                           Ro ferry voyages operating so as to serve
                                           traffic between the same two or more
                                           points either:
                                           t) according to published timetable, or
                                           ii) with voyages so regular or frequent
                                           that they constitute a recognisable
                                           systematic series;
Company* means the owner of a Ro-Ro        Company" means the owner of a Ro-Ro
ferry or any other organisation or person  ferry or any other organisation or person
such as the manager, or the bareboat       such as the manager, or the bareboat
charterer, who has assumed the             charterer, who has assumed the
responsibility for operation of the Ro-Ro  responsibility for operation of the Ro-Ro
ferry from the owner;                      ferry from the owner;
"Safety Management Certificate" means      "Safety Management Certificate" means
the certificate issued to Ro-Ro ferries in the certificate issued to Ro-Ro ferries in
conformity with this Regulation;           conformity with this Regulation;
                                           "Sheltered waters" means areas with
                                           annual probability smaller than 10% of
                                           exceeding 1.5 m significant wave height »
                                           in the course of which a Ro-Ro ferry is at
                                           no time more than 6 miles from a place
                                           of refuge, where shipwrecked persons can
                                           land.
 ---pagebreak---                  Article 4                                    Article 4
AU Companies shall comply with all the      1. All Companies shall comply with all
provisions of paragraphs 1.2 to 13.5 of     the provisions of paragraphs 1.2 to 13.5
the ISM Code, as amended hereby, as if      of the ISM Code, as if the provisions
the provisions thereof were mandatory and   were mandatory, as a condition lo provide
not only of a recommendatory nature, as a   regular services to or from a port of the
condition to provide regular services to or European Community.
from a port of the European Community.
                                            2. By derogation, the provision of the
                                            previous paragraph may not apply until 1
                                            July 1997 to Companies operating one or
                                            more Ro-Ro vessels on a regular service
                                            exclusively on sheltered waters between
                                            ports situated in the same Member State.
 ---pagebreak---                   Article 5                                    Article 5
 1. Member States shall comply with the      1. Member States shall comply with the
provisions of items 13.2, 13.4 and 13.5 of  provisions of items 13.2, 13.4 and 13.5 of
the ISM Code, as amended hereby, as if      the ISM Code, as amended hereby, as if
the provisions thereof were mandatory       the provisions thereof were mandatory in
and not only of a recommendatory nature,    relation to Companies and Ro-Ro ferries.
in relation to Companies and Ro-Ro
ferries.
2. For the purposes of this Regulation,     2. For the purposes of this Regulation,
Member States may only authorise, or        Member States may only authorise, or
rely upon, fully or in part, a Recognised   rely upon, fully or in part, a Recognised
Organisation.                               Organisation.
3. For the purposes of paragraph 13.2 of    3. For the purposes of paragraph 13.2 of
the ISM Code as amended hereby, a           the ISM Code as amended hereby, a
Document of Compliance issued by the        Document of Compliance issued by the
authorities of a Member State in the        authorities of a Member State in the
territory of which a Company conducts its   territory of which a Company conducts its
business or by a Recognised Organisation    business or by a Recognised Organisation
acting on their behalf shall be accepted by acting on their behalf shall be accepted by
other Member States.                        other Member States.
4. For the purposes of paragraph 13.5 of    4.The document of compliance shall only
the ISM Code, as amended hereby, a          be valid for 5 years from the date of its
periodical verification shall take place at issue provided always that a verification
least once every year.                      shall take place once every year in order
                                            to confirm the proper functioning of the
                                            Safety Management System and to
                                            confirm that possible modifications
                                            introduced since the latest verification
                                            satisfy the provisions of the ISM Code.
                                            5.The Safety Management certificate shall
                                            only be valid for 5 years from the date of
                                            its issue provided always that a
                                            verification shall take place once every
                                            year, in order to confirm the proper
                                            functioning of the safety management
                                            System and to confirm that possible
                                            modifications introduced since the latest
                                            verification satisfy the provisions of the
                                            ISM Code.
 ---pagebreak---                                                         Article 7a (new)
                                          In order to take account of the general
                                         terms of the "ISM Code" . the
                                         Commission shall examine the
                                         implementation of this regulation after
                                         three years of its entry into force and
                                         propose any appropriate measure.
                   Article 8                                Article 8
In order to take account of developments In order to take account of developments
at international level                   at international or European Community
                                         level including the results of the above-
                                         mentioned monitoring of the ISM Code's
                                         implementation.
(1)     the definition of "ISM Code" in  (1)     the definition of "ISM Code" in
        article 2,                               article 2,
(2)     the Annex,                       (2)     the Annex,
(3)     the definition of "Recognised    (3)     the définition of "Recognised
        Organisation" in article 2,              Organisation" in article 2,
may be amended , in particular to        may be amended, in particular to
introduce into the Annex guidelines      introduce into the Annex the guidelines
for Administrations for the              for Administrations for the
implementation of the ISM Code, in       implementation of the ISM Code, in
accordance with the procedure laid down  accordance with the procedure laid down
in article 9 paragraph 2.                in Article 9, paragraph 2.
                                             C
 ---pagebreak---                  Article 10                                  Article 10
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 This Regulation shall enter into force on
January 1996. It shall be applicable as     1 January 1996. It shall be applicable as
from 1 July 1996.                           from 1 July 1996.
                                             By way of derogation, this regulation
                                            shall not apply until 31 December 1997 to
                                            companies which are incorporated under
                                            Greek law, which have their principal
                                            place of business in Greece, and which
                                            operate ro-ro ferries registered in and
                                            flying the flag of Greece providing
                                            regular services exclusively between ports
                                            situated in Greece.
This Regulation shall be binding in its     This Regulation shall be binding in its
entirety and directly applicable in all     entirety and directly applicable in all
Member States.                              Member States.
                                               ?r
 ---pagebreak---                                                                     ISSN 0254-1475
                                                              COM(95) 286 final
                                               DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                         «7 05
                                      Catalogue number : CB-CO-95-314-EN-C
                                                               ISBN92-77-9087Q-X
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