23/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 January, the European Commission adopted an assessment report on implementation of the directive on improving port safety (2005/65), which completes measures adopted in 2004 (Regulation 725/2004 on improving the safety of ships and port installations). Despite the delay that has occurred in implementation of the directive in most member states (Estonia and United Kingdom were taken before the Court of Justice of the European Communities last September), its main provisions have been integrated into national legislation. Nonetheless, their practical application comes up against difficulties of an organisational and functional kind at the level of the ports themselves, the Commission says. Provisions of the directive concern around 750 ports mainly in the United Kingdom (153), Italy (90), Greece (81), Denmark (79), Spain (78), Germany (62), and France (47) which, with Belgium (4) and the Netherlands (20), are the main points of entry for freight into Europe. (A.By./transl.jl)