Article 1 Purpose
The purpose of this Directive is to facilitate maritime transport by providing for standardisation of reporting formalities.
Article 2 Scope
This Directive shall apply to the reporting formalities on arrival in and/or departure from ports of the Member States of the Community, as set out in Annex I, Part A, relating to a ship, its stores, its crew's effects, its crew list and, in the case of a ship certified to carry 12 passengers or fewer, its passenger list.
Article 3 Definitions
For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply: (a) ‘IMO FAL Convention’ means the International Maritime Organisation's Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic adopted by the International Conference on Facilitation of Maritime Travel and Transport on 9 April 1965; (b) ‘IMO FAL forms’ means A4 size standardised IMO model facilitation forms provided for under the IMO FAL Convention; (c) ‘reporting formality’ means the information that, when required by a Member State, must be provided for administrative and procedural purposes when a ship arrives in or departs from a port; (d) ‘ship’ means a seagoing vessel of any type operating in the marine environment; (e) ‘ship's stores’ means goods for use in the ship, including consumable goods, goods carried for sale to passengers and crew members, fuel and lubricants, but excluding ship's equipment and spare parts; (f) ‘ship's equipment’ means articles other than ship's spare parts which are on board a ship for use thereon and are removable but not of a consumable nature, including accessories, such as lifeboats, life-saving devices, furniture, ship's apparel and similar items; (g) ‘ship's spare parts’ means articles of a repair or replacement nature for incorporation into the ship in which they are carried; (h) ‘crew's effects’ means clothing, items in everyday use and other articles, which may include currency, belonging to the crew and carried on the ship; (i) ‘crew member’ means any person actually employed for duties on board during a voyage in the working or service of a ship and included in the crew list.
Article 4 Acceptance of forms
Member States shall accept that the reporting formalities referred to in Article 2 are satisfied when the information submitted is in accordance with: (a) the respective specifications set out in Annex I, Parts B and C, and (b) the corresponding model forms set out in Annex II with their categories of data.
Article 5 
Amendment procedure Measures adapting Annexes I and II to this Directive and references to IMO instruments in order to bring them into line with Community or IMO measures which have entered into force shall be adopted by the Commission, in so far as such amendments do not broaden the scope of this Directive. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 6(2).
Article 6 
Committee procedure 1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) set up by Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 ( 5 ) 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
Article 7 Implementation
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not later than 9 September 2003. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States. 2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
Article 8 Entry into force
This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
Article 9 Addressees
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.