Brussels, 23/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 23 July, the Council adopted, without debate, a regulation to finance the activities of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in the area of response to marine pollution caused by ships and oil and gas installations in the years 2014 to 2020. Final adoption of this legislative text by the Council follows the first reading agreement reached with the European Parliament at the beginning of the year. The regulation will enter into force on the day after its publication in the EU Official Journal, which is expected to be within the next few days. It will apply retroactively, from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020.
Union funding. The financial envelope for EMSA's tasks for the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020 will be €160.5 million expressed in current prices. Annual amounts will be determined through the EU's annual budgetary procedure, within the limits of the financial framework.
EMSA's pollution response. EMSA's pollution response includes information, cooperation and coordination activities and, crucially, operational assistance, i.e. detection and clean-up of oil spills. The Agency has contracts with a network of standby anti-pollution vessels to complement member states' response capacity. These ships are ready to intervene rapidly, usually within 24 hours. Affected coastal states can request this assistance through the Community civil protection mechanism. While EMSA pays for the contracts for these vessels when they are on standby, the costs of actual clean-up operations are covered by the countries themselves. In addition, EMSA provides a satellite-based oil spill detection and monitoring service called CleanSeaNet. Previously EMSA's remit covered only monitoring of and response to pollution from ships but, in 2013, its tasks were extended to pollution caused by oil and gas installations. The new regulation is intended to ensure that the agency has the funds needed to carry out these tasks.
Member states' responsibility. Assistance by EMSA comes on top of national resources, and it remains incumbent on coastal states to have appropriate pollution response mechanisms in place. (LC)