The Spanish Presidency of the EU Council proposed a compromise on the revision of Directive 2009/18/EC establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector, at a meeting of the Working Party on Shipping on Wednesday 19 July.
This revision is one of five legislative proposals aimed at modernising the EU’s rules on maritime safety presented by the European Commission at the beginning of June (see EUROPE 13192/18).
According to a document obtained by EUROPE, the compromise proposes to postpone the implementation date by 3 years.
It also foresees giving more room for manoeuvre at national level, in particular for investigations into marine casualties or incidents involving any type of vessel carrying 12 passengers or fewer.
The text also states that “each Member State may develop, implement and maintain a quality management system for its investigation authority”. In addition, investigating authorities are not prevented or restricted from giving an exhaustive account of the causes of a marine casualty or incident.
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the Member States to “ensure that strict guarantees of confidentiality are established for the access to witness statements, findings and expert reports and that they can not be used for purposes other than those arising from the accident investigation itself”.
The compromise proposal reinforces the fact that data collected by investigating authorities may not be used for purposes other than those of the investigation itself, except in the case of a court order. Only the Member States can decide to limit the cases in which such a disclosure decision can be taken, while respecting the legal acts of the Union.
See the compromise proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/86v (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)