Strasbourg, 10/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Hennis-Plasschaert report on the modified proposed directive of the European Parliament and the Council to improve port safety was adopted in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The remarkable job of work by Ms Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (ALDE, Netherlands) in negotiations with the Council to arrive at a global agreement at first reading paved the way for a block vote on amendments 13 to 47 and 49 to 75. “This will help us to free up time to implement a pragmatic and constructive approach”, said Jacques Barrot, Commissioner for Transport, during the debate, confirming that the Commission subscribes to the compromise reached in negotiations with the Council. This directive is set to enter into force on 1 January 2007.
Drawing up a directive in this field answers a genuine need. Against a backdrop of international insecurity and terrorism, port security must be stepped up as it has been in airports, and a harmonised European strategy to help avoid competition distortion between European ports. This will add to the regulation on the improved safety of ships and port installations (EC 725/2004), which transposes the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code), which were created by the ILO and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), into European legislation. The Parliament stressed that this regulation, which relates to information on security to be provided by ships before entering a port, on checks which must be carried out in port and on the appointment of a special maritime safety authority by the Member States, cannot be limited to port facilities and the security of the waters, but must be extended to the whole of a port area. Ports are major logistical hubs within the intermodal transport chain for flows of passengers and goods, and any attack or chemical accident could cause chain reactions affecting the local inhabitants. In its proposed directive, the Commission has followed a coherent procedure, staying in line with the definitions and terminology used by the IMO as much as possible in order to ensure transparency and legal safety, although the Parliament was disappointed by the Commission's choice not simply to extend the scope of the regulation on terminals already in force, which would have helped to keep the red tape to a minimum.
The Parliament adopted amendments to improve various points, such as improving flexibility in implementation by the Member States, under the principle of subsidiarity. The Commission hoped to extend the scope of the directive to “adjacent areas”, but without providing any precise definition of this. On this point, the Parliament went along with the general guideline of the Transport Council of 10 June 2004, stressing the need to allow the Member States to define the port area and allow them to choose whether or not to apply the directive to adjacent areas.
The directive defines the actors and procedures to boost port security, and provides for the Member States to appoint a port safety authority, a port security agent and, in particular, a consultative committee on port safety (article 10). Parliament and Council both consider that it is up to the Member States and the ports to decide how they choose to keep abreast of security conditions, and thus oppose the creation of such a committee.
Parliament wanted to guarantee a clear and uniform application of the conditions, and pleaded in favour of Commission monitoring. The directive already provides for the Member States to appoint a maritime security correspondent, to be responsible for keeping the Commission up to date with contact details for their port safety authorities and agents, but above all it obliges the Member States to carry out port security assessments, on the basis of which they will draw up their port safety plans, which the Commission regularly evaluates. The Parliament adds a uniform inspection capacity for the Commission, in full respect of the Parliament's powers, to ensure that the directive is applied correctly in all Member States, whilst avoiding excessive red tape. It would like this control to be the subject of a regular report to the Parliament and Council, so that any modifications necessary can be made.
Lastly, the Parliament calls on the Commission to carry out a study as soon as possible into the division of costs between the public authorities and the operators, so that the same rules will go for all. Jacques Barrot promised on Tuesday that this work would be carried out in 2005.