Brussels, 06/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission presented three legislative proposals on Monday 6 June to simplify the rules on safety of passenger ships.
It is proposed that two directives be amended: Directive 2009/45/EC on safety rules and standards for passenger ships and Directive 98/41/EC on registering persons travelling on passenger ships. Directive 1999/35/EC on surveys for the safe operation of regular roll-on/roll off ferries and “high-speed passenger craft services” will be replaced by a new directive.
Revision of Directive 2009/45/EC clarifies that aluminium-built ships also have to be certified. The Commission staff working document numbers at around 100 the vessels of this type operating in France and Italy without certification. It is also proposed to exclude ships of less than 24 metres in length from the scope of the directive as the prescriptive standards proved to be difficult to adapt in practice, the Commission says, recognising that national rules for such ships can generally take better account of local circumstances.
The proposed amendments to Directive 98/41/EC would require passenger data to be registered “in a digital manner”, using the so-called National Single Window established under Directive 2010/65/EU on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from ports of the member states. Currently data concerning persons on board is kept by the companies' registrar, which can cause difficulties in rescue operations which require “immediate access to accurate data”. The proposal also introduces greater flexibility for operators on shorter voyages. In addition, clarification of the geographical scope of the directive is “not intended to impact on Member States' own definitions of sea area boundaries”.
The final directive seeks to eliminate overlaps between various inspection regimes in order to reduce the administrative burden on ship owners and rationalise the inspection efforts of member states' authorities. The new arrangements should reduce the number of annual inspections from three to two, according to the Commission's working document. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)