Strasbourg, 25/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Parliament's delegation on the Conciliation Committee accepted the compromise with the Council on the two parts of the Erika I package that were still causing headaches (port inspections and classification companies). The Council and the EP are now expected to formally adopt the three components of this first round of maritime safety measures put forward by the Commission in March 2000 after the sinking of the Erika oiltanker off the French coast. The legislation will come into force at the beginning of 2003. The three parts in question are:
- A directive to step up inspections on ships by the port authority of the country where ships dock (report by Mark Watts, PES). There will be more inspection points and the measures for outlawing ships from the Paris Memorandum's black list have been tightened. Around 4,000 of the 15,000 ships that dock at EU ports every year will be systematically controlled. In conciliation, the EP managed to get black boxes made compulsory under the directive (the Commission proposed this measure in its Erika II package). They will have to be introduced from July 2002 onwards on new ships in line with the timetable laid down by the International Solas Convention; and from 2007/2008 onwards on old cargo ships.
- A directive to strengthen "classification companies'" monitoring activities and liability. The companies will be responsible for issuing seaworthiness certificates on behalf of Member States (report by Josu Ortuondo Larrea, Greens/EFA). The EP wanted to set a threshold and a ceiling for classification companies' financial liability but finally came round to the Council position of setting a minimum threshold of EUR 5 million for death or bodily harm and EUR 2.5 million for material damage. Member States are free to negotiate higher compensation levels in the contracts they sign with the companies.
- A regulation on phasing out single-hull tankers, which incorporates the outcome of the IMO negotiations into EU law (report by Konstantinos Hatzidakis, EPP-ED). The IMO international agreement of April 2001, achieved under pressure from Europe, sets out a timetable for phasing out single-hull tankers between 2003 and 2021, and leaves the EU the option of bringing the agreement forward as from 2015. The regulation will come into force on 1 September 2002 and will force Member States to phase out single-hull tankers flying under EU flags and ban ships not meeting the new IMO standards from EU ports. The EP and the Council reached agreement on this issue without having to use the conciliation procedure.
