Brussels, 15/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission decided to bring an action before the Court of Justice against eight Member States for maritime safety matters. The countries in question are Belgium, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and the United Kingdom. These countries have failed to communicate to the Commission the measures taken to transpose directive 2002/59 of 27 June 2002, which establishes a Community vessel traffic and monitoring system, into national law. This directive, one of the measures taken further to the shipwreck of the Erika and which aims to improve the authorities' reaction in case of incidents or accidents, is of fundamental importance to enhance safety, the Commission points out.