Brussels, 08/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has just adopted, through written procedure a draft Directive on the simplification of reporting formalities to be completed by ships docking in European ports. The text proposes a standardised series of documents to be filled in for the reporting formalities, without a distinction on the flag flown or the sector of activity. The Member States who do not require certain elements of information or formalities in the forms will not be forced to do so in the future, notes the Commission in its Communiqué.
At the present time, the Member State port authorities call for statements on the ships, its stores, its crew's effects, its crew and passengers. "A simple tasks like this becomes complex because the formats for submitting information vary greatly between Member States. The Commission decided to overcome his complexity by proposing the adoption of uniform layouts to fulfil these reporting formalities," stated the Commission for Transport, Loyola de Palacio. The model proposed by the Commission is based on the convention of the International Maritime Organisation.