Brussels, 03/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - A joint approach will be followed to revise the safety measures of passenger vessels in the wake of the Costa Concordia shipwreck, European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas has announced. He intends to propose either reinforcing recent standards drafted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), or new European minimum standards, which could form the basis for new IMO standards. This also responds to an announcement by the secretary general of the Organisation, Koji Sekimizu, who stated on 30 January that the IMO was the right international body to supervise any revision of the legislation on this issue (which is on the agenda of a meeting to be held at the end of May). Kallas' intentions were shared after his meeting with representatives of the cruise ship industry (European Cruise Council - ECC). He reminded representatives of the sector, which is currently carrying out an internal examination of safety measures, that “the lessons learned must be shared with the Commission and the IMO. Safety is the main priority. Passengers need to be certain that the same high levels of standards will be applied whenever and wherever they travel. We need an international revision at IMO level, to add to the current revision of the safety of passenger vessels underway in the Union.” The Commission will carry out a public consultation on the subject in April of this year, to be followed in the spring by a conference with the stakeholders. As of May, the commissioner will detail the revision to be proposed at the end of the year. (MD/transl.fl)