EU introduced 5 new legislative proposals on maritime safety and pollution

Posted on June 9, 2023   |  

The proposals will provide new tools to the EU to clean and update shipping and 3 proposals in the package will enhance maritime safety rules.

It will be focusing on port state control and maritime accident inquiries to minimize accidents, protect lives, and avoid environmental damage. 

The package of proposals contains Flag State inspections, Port state control, and Tackle ship source pollution.

Flag State inspection requirements are based on international rules and European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), training national administrations to improve Member State authorities' controls over their fleets.

It will improve maritime safety and reduce environmental pollution.

Port State control will be developed to cover extra international rules, which will also revise the way ships are targeted for review to recall new requirements. 

It adds importance to ships' environmentally related performance and flaws in specifying their risk profile.

Tackle ship-source pollution aim to prevent any type of unlawful release into European seas, which is critical to lower the environmental impact of maritime transport activities and maintaining the marine ecosystem.

Illegal releases are detected, violations are pursued, and the executioners of such activities are sanctioned.

The proposal set the EU’s rules with international rules and expands the capacity to cover a vaster range of polluting substances. 

The proposal also optimizes EMSA’s surveillance and information-sharing database, CleanSeaNet.