Ingangsdatum:
25-08-2002
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 80(2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee(2),
Having regard to the opinion of
the Committee of the Regions(3),
Acting in accordance
with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty(4),
Whereas:
(1)
A large number of legislative measures have been adopted in the Community in
order to enhance safety and prevent pollution in maritime transport. In
order to be effective, such legislation must be applied in a proper and
uniform manner throughout the Community. This will ensure a level playing
field, reduce the distortion of competition resulting from the economic
advantages enjoyed by non-complying ships and will reward the serious
maritime players.
(2) Certain tasks
currently done at Community or national level could be executed by a
specialised expert body. Indeed, there is a need for technical and
scientific support and a high level of stable expertise to properly apply
the Community legislation in the fields of maritime safety and ship
pollution prevention, to monitor its implementation and to evaluate the
effectiveness of the measures in place. There is a need therefore, within
the Community's existing institutional structure and balance of powers, to
establish a European Maritime Safety Agency ("the Agency").
(3) In general terms, the
Agency should represent the technical body providing the Community with the
necessary means to act effectively to enhance overall maritime safety and
ship pollution prevention rules. The Agency should assist the Commission in
the continuous process of updating and developing Community legislation in
the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships and should
provide the necessary support to ensure the convergent and effective
implementation of such legislation throughout the Community by assisting the
Commission in performing the tasks assigned to the latter by existing and
future Community legislation on maritime safety and ship pollution
prevention.
(4) For the proper
achievement of the purposes for which the Agency is established, it is
appropriate that the Agency carries out a number of other important tasks
aimed at enhancing maritime safety and ship pollution prevention in the
waters of the Member States. In this respect, the Agency should work with
Member States to organise appropriate training activities on port State
control and flag State related issues and to provide technical assistance
related to the implementation of Community legislation. It should facilitate
cooperation between the Member States and the Commission as provided for in
Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27
June 2002 establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information
system and repealing Council Directive 93/75/EEC(5), namely by developing
and operating any information system necessary for the objectives of that
Directive, and in the activities concerning the investigations related to
serious maritime accidents. It should provide the Commission and the Member
States with objective, reliable and comparable information and data on
maritime safety and on ship pollution prevention to enable them to take any
necessary initiatives to enhance the measures in place and to evaluate their
effectiveness. It should place the Community maritime safety know-how at the
disposal of the States applying for accession. It should be open to the
participation of these States and to other third countries which have
concluded agreements with the Community whereby they adopt and implement
Community legislation in the field of maritime safety and prevention of
pollution by ships.
(5) The Agency
should favour the establishment of better cooperation between the Member
States and should develop and disseminate best practices in the Community.
This in turn should contribute to enhancing the overall maritime safety
system in the Community as well as reducing the risk of maritime accidents,
marine pollution and the loss of human lives at sea.
(6) In order properly to carry
out the tasks entrusted to the Agency, it is appropriate that its officials
carry out visits to the Member States in order to monitor the overall
functioning of the Community maritime safety and ship pollution prevention
system. The visits should be carried out in accordance with a policy to be
established by the Agency's Administrative Board and should be facilitated
by the authorities of the Member States.
(7) The Agency should apply the
relevant Community legislation concerning public access to documents and the
protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. It
should give the public and any interested party objective, reliable and
easily understandable information with regard to its work.
(8) For the contractual
liability of the Agency, which is governed by the law applicable to the
contracts concluded by the Agency, the Court of Justice should have
jurisdiction to give judgment pursuant to any arbitration clause contained
in the contract. The Court of Justice should also have jurisdiction in
disputes relating to compensation for any damage arising from the
non-contractual liability of the Agency.
(9) In order to effectively
ensure the accomplishment of the functions of the Agency, the Member States
and the Commission should be represented on an Administrative Board
entrusted with the necessary powers to establish the budget, verify its
execution, adopt the appropriate financial rules, establish transparent
working procedures for decision making by the Agency, approve its work
programme, examine requests for technical assistance from Member States,
define a policy for visits to the Member States and appoint the Executive
Director. In the light of the highly technical and scientific mission and
tasks of the Agency, it is appropriate for the Administrative Board to
consist of one representative of each Member State and four representatives
of the Commission, being members with a high level of expertise. In order
further to ensure the highest level of expertise and experience in the
Administrative Board and with a view to involving the sectors most closely
concerned in the tasks of the Agency, the Commission should nominate
independent professionals from these sectors as board members without the
right to vote, on the basis of their personal merit and experience in the
field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships and not as
representatives of particular professional organisations.
(10) The good functioning of
the Agency requires that its Executive Director be appointed on the grounds
of merit and documented administrative and managerial skills, as well as
competence and experience relevant for maritime safety and prevention of
pollution by ships and that he/she performs his/her duties with complete
independence and flexibility as to the organisation of the internal
functioning of the Agency. To this end, the Executive Director should
prepare and take all necessary steps to ensure the proper accomplishment of
the working programme of the Agency, should prepare each year a draft
general report to be submitted to the Administrative Board, should draw up
estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Agency and should implement
the budget.
(11) In order to
guarantee the full autonomy and independence of the Agency, it is considered
necessary to grant it an autonomous budget whose revenue comes essentially
from a contribution from the Community.
(12) Over the past years, as
more decentralised agencies have been created, the budgetary authority has
looked to improve transparency and control over the management of the
Community funding allocated to them, in particular concerning the
budgetisation of the fees, financial control, power of discharge, pension
scheme contributions and the internal budgetary procedure (code of conduct).
In a similar way, Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)(6) should apply without restriction to the
Agency, which should accede to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 25 May
1999 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and
the Commission of the European Communities concerning internal
investigations by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)(7).
(13) Within five years from the
date of the Agency having taken up its responsibilities, the Administrative
Board should commission an independent external evaluation in order to
assess the impact of this Regulation, the Agency and its working practices
on establishing a high level of maritime safety and prevention of pollution
by ships,
(1) OJ C 120 E, 24.4.2001, p. 83 and
OJ C 103 E, 30.4.2002, p. 184.
(2) OJ C 221, 7.8.2001, p. 64.
(3) OJ C 357, 14.12.2001, p. 1.
(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 14 June
2001 (OJ C 53 E, 28.2.2002, p. 312), Council Common Position of 7 March
2002 (OJ C 119 E, 22.5.2002, p. 27) and Decision of the European
Parliament of 12 June 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal)
and Council Decision of 25 June 2002.
(5) See page
10 of this Official Journal.
(6) OJ L 136,
31.5.1999, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 136, 31.5.1999, p. 15.