Strasbourg, 26/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Parliament approved, without amendment, two Council common positions on maritime safety: one on the regulation establishing a Maritime Safety Committee and the prevention of pollution from ships (COSS) and amending the regulations on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution by ships, the other on an amendment to the directives on this matter. The plenary followed its rapporteur, Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL, Greece) who had called for the Council's common position to be adopted without amendment, as it takes on board all the amendments made by the Parliament at first reading.
The new regulation proposes a single regulatory committee to replace the existing committees, to modify the existing regulations on maritime safety in order to take into account the creation of this new committee and the evolution of international legislation in this respect. Above all, the new committee will be entrusted with ensuring that Community law is conform to international instruments on maritime safety. At first reading, the Parliament called for: - the committee to cover prevention and pollution by ships and the living and working conditions on board ship; - the committee only to cover the conformity of Community rules with international rules if the European Commission, after assessment, considers that international measures could lower the levels of maritime safety within the EU and on condition that the Parliament has a role to play in regulation procedure. Furthermore, the respective roles of the Committee and the European Maritime Safety Agency were clearly defined.