Brussels, 29/01/2007 (Agence Europe): Following two accidents at sea which occurred recently in southern England and in the Messina Strait in Italy, Jacques Barrot, the commissioner for transport issues, published a press release last Friday, in which he calls for European measures for maritime safety to be tightened up, and for rapid progress to be made on the proposals made by the Commission in November 2005.
One of the Commission's proposals aims to reinforce the provisions of the existing directive on vessel traffic monitoring, in order to improve the provision of places of refuge for ships in distress. Firstly, it establishes the principle that ships in distress must be provided with a place of refuge, on the basis of an assessment of the situation by a competent authority, and, secondly, guarantees a decision by an independent authority, in the general public interest and independent of local pressure.
The Commission also hopes to move forward on the dossiers under the third “maritime safety” package, particularly by adopting the regulation on damage compensation payments to be made to passengers in case of accidents. The regulation aims to protect people who have been injured in an accident at sea, even under national transport conditions.
Lastly, the Commission stressed that it was extremely important that all the factors behind these two accidents be brought to light, and stated that the adoption of its proposal for a directive on investigations into accidents would help to guarantee the effectiveness, objectivity and transparency of maritime investigations.