Brussels, 09/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - Reacting, on Thursday 8 November, to the communication on the European port policy adopted by the European Commission on 18 November (EUROPE 9524), the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has criticised certain elements of it. Unsurprisingly, it pointed out that in its communication, the Commission raised the issue of port charges, which have never before been mentioned during consultations as a problem. “We are wondering why the Commission has isolated this point”, the secretary-general of ESPO, Patrick Verhoeven, told Europe, stressing that the only request put forward during the consultations by the ship-owners related to greater flexibility in payment for portal services (docking, handling, piloting). This request has already been taken up by the Commission, which is proposing the abolition of obligatory piloting for certain vessels. ESPO has also spoken out against the idea of paperless administration (possibly using a single access card for all modes of transport) within the framework of the maritime area without borders. According to the organisation, this kind of “e-bureaucracy” may entail excessive costs, particularly for small and medium-sized ports, and duplicate efforts already being made by various European ports (such as Rotterdam and Antwerp) to facilitate access to the terminals. Welcoming the Commission's announcement of its intention to present guidelines on state aid applying to ports in 2008, ESPO presented its own recommendations on the subject. Amongst other things, public funding of operations linked to port access should not be considered as state aid, unlike operations (including maintenance) related to infrastructure or upper works (the top sides of vessels). The legislation should be the same for all ports (irrespective of the categories they belong to), except the most remote. The whole of the report can be seen at the organisation's website: http://www.espo.be (A.By.)