EC WELCOMES MARITIME ACCIDENT AGREEMENT

EC welcomes maritime accident agreement. The European Commission has welcomed the political agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the investigation of maritime accidents, modernising a 2009 Directive. The Directive applies only to maritime transport vessels to which the international conventions apply or to fishing vessels.

Although maritime safety in EU waters is very high, with few fatalities and no recent major oil spills, more than 2,000 marine accidents and incidents are still reported every year.

Among key new measures, the co-legislators agreed to bring the most serious accidents involving smaller fishing vessels (less than 15 metres) within the scope of the Directive. The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) will provide operational support and training to national investigative authorities on their request, while respecting their operational independence. The revised directive also aligns EU law with the most up-to-date international provisions adopted by the International Maritime Organisation and requires that Member State accident investigation authorities engage in a peer review process to improve, to learn from each other and improve their procedures and outputs.

The political agreement reached must now be adopted formally. Once this process is completed by the European Parliament and the Council, the new rules will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and enter into force 20 days later. Member States will have 30 months to transpose the Directive into national law.

This legislation was presented by the Commission in June 2023 as part of the maritime safety package. As laid out in the EU Green Deal, the Smart and Sustainable Mobility Strategy and the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the Commission has a vision to set shipping on a path towards zero emissions, pollution and accidents.

Adina Vălean, Commissioner for Transport, said:

“Although maritime safety in EU waters is very high, every accident is one too many, and we need to learn from them. Today’s agreement will help operators and regulators to take the right measures to reduce their occurrence, ultimately preventing the loss of human life and environmental pollution.”

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