Brussels, 12/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Friday the Committee of Permanent Representative (Coreper) examined the draft regulation to improve the safety of ships and port installations. This European Commission proposal presented in April intends to transpose into Community law, maritime security measures applicable to international maritime freight transport and port installations and adopted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in December 2002. It also intends to extend some of these measures not only to intra-Community traffic but also to national traffic, for example, boats going from Marseilles to Corsica (EUROPE 9 April). Most delegations, with the exception of Spain and Portugal, expressed some misgivings about imposing these measures on national traffic. The Italian Presidency presented a compromise proposing to leave the choice to Member States to decide whether to make measures planned by the IMO compulsory for their national traffic. Although at the end of the meeting, the delegations had still not been convinced on this point, the Presidency compromise could satisfy delegations in view of a Council political agreement on this proposal while awaiting the European Parliament's first reading.