Vice-President Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for Transport has requested that the current review of EU legislation for the safety of passengers of the ship to take full account of the lessons from the tragedy of the Costa Concordia. The review will give priority, in particular issues: design and stability of passenger ships, the technology sector, crew training and safe operation, including emergency evacuation procedures. Vice-President Kallas will present the position of the Commission to the European Parliament’s Transport Committee Tuesday, January 24 May 2012.
Vice-President Siim Kallas said: “A week ago today, the trip to the Costa Concordia had a tragic end, our thoughts are especially with the victims and their families and friends that I want to pay tribute to the teams emergency and safety and to help people .. Giglio tireless and generous. Safety comes first. We will ensure that the lessons of Costa Concordia are fully taken into account in the ongoing review of EU law of safety passengers of the ship. And we want to speed up the work where possible. The challenge is to ensure that safety rules for passenger ships fully keep pace with the latest models and technologies in a rapidly evolving sector. The safety record of passenger ships in EU waters has been strong over the last 10 years, but there is no room for complacency when it comes to security. I sincerely hope that tragic images of today are not forgotten when we need strong support for our proposals to transform the security legislation this year. “
Vice-President Siim Kallas urged Member States to ratify without delay the most recent update of the International Convention for the maritime carrier liability and compensation for passengers in an accident (Athens Convention) to promote its entry into force. He noted that the specific legislation of the EU is based on this Convention shall come into force in late 2012.
Costa Concordia
Vice-President Kallas wrote to the Italian Minister of Transport Corrado Passera to express their condolences on the tragic accident and loss of support services and to offer life under its responsibility. The European Commission and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) are in regular contact with the Italian authorities to track and monitor the operations necessary for the rescue and investigation.
European legislation sets the rules that the investigation of marine casualties, the independence of research and where appropriate, the cooperation of Member States and relevant departments of the EU. Research results should be available within a year and be shared with the EU and the Member States. This ensures that all the lessons of the accident at sea are taken into account in reviewing legislation, such as being in the field of safety of passenger ships.
With regard to the risks of oil spills as possible and in their ability to respond to pollution, EMSA can activate the request of a Member State in the fight against pollution of short-term average. To this end, a warship dedicated to oil spills through a standby agreement with EMSA is stationed at La Spezia in northern Italy.
European Passenger Ship Safety Law, the current rules
there are robust procedures in place at international level (International Safety Maritime Organization, IMO) and the European Union, which govern the procedures for building and safety for passenger ships, the rigorous certification and inspection requirements, and rules of carrier liability and compensation for victims. But the design and operation of the expedition will continue to evolve significantly. For this reason, the Commission has been working since 2010 in a review of European legislation on passenger ships to ensure it keeps pace with the latest developments in the design, operating procedures and technologies in this sector. This should now take full account of the lessons of the Costa Concordia.
Questions for priority consideration are:
- Stability: The stability of the current rules on passenger ships need to update? In particular, in relation to ships, damaged and / or exposed to bad weather.
- Design and technical development of ships: No need to adapt safety standards, according to new technical developments in this sector, new materials, recent developments in the design of passenger ships, types of engines used?
- Evacuation: How can we ensure that passenger lists are accurate and updated in accordance with existing rules? How new technologies can improve or equipment plans and evacuation procedures? The EU can develop or further support the work done internationally by IMO in this area?
- Scope of the Law: Should the scope of existing provisions of the EU safety of passenger ships will be extended to cover more types of ships for domestic travel (for example, to passenger ships sailing or historical)?
- Qualification and training of the crew: Is there anything that can be done, for example, in communication with the passengers of the crew of the emergency services and with the other?
What happens next?
- Vice-President Kallas called a meeting with representatives of the cruise industry at the end of January to receive your firsthand account of the commitment and continual review.
- The Vice President will host a conference in spring 2012 with stakeholders on the safety of passenger ships.
- The Commission will launch a public consultation on the legislative review in the spring of 2012.
- The Commission may decide to submit a proposal to adapt the existing rules on the safety of the safety of passenger ships to new developments in the area. The Vice President will give more details on the possible content and timing of their proposals before the summer of 2012.
Tags: Costa Concordia, EU, European Passenger Ship Safety Law, Member States, Safety of passenger ships, security
