5. TRAINING OF SEAFARERS
(24197)
5369/03
COM(03) 1
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Draft Directive amending Directive 2001/25/EC on the minimum level of training of seafarers.
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| Legal base: | Article 80(2) EC; co-decision; qualified majority voting
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| Document originated: | 13 January 2003
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| Deposited in Parliament: | 20 January 2003
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| Department: | Transport
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| Basis of consideration: | EM of 4 March 2003
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| Previous Committee Report: | None
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| To be discussed in Council: | 27-28 March 2003
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| Committee's assessment: | Politically important
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| Committee's decision: | Cleared
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Background
5.1 Directive 2001/25/EC sets minimum vocational training
standards for masters, officers, ratings and those in charge of
survival craft. It applies within the EU the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) Convention on Standards of Training, Certification
and Watchkeeping, as amended (STCW 78 and 95). Under the Directive
a Member State wishing to recognise Certificates of Competency
issued by a non-EU country must carry out an assessment of that
country's compliance with the STCW Conventions and submit a report
to the Commission for circulation to the other Member States,
which then have three months to comment or object. If the consultation
period passes without objection, the Member State may recognise
the Certificates; but this process must be repeated by each Member
State wishing to recognise such Certificates.
The document
5.2 Both Member States and Commission wish to simplify
the system for recognition of Certificates of Competency, which
is widely seen as being unwieldy and bureaucratic. The draft Directive
proposed by the Commission would provide for a new procedure:
- the Member State concerned to submit a request to the Commission,
with evidence that a non-EU country meets the required criteria,
for recognition of Certificates issued by that non-EU country;
- the Commission, assisted by the European Maritime Safety Agency
(EMSA), to carry out an evaluation of the non-EU country's maritime
training and certification systems;
- the Commission to decide on recognition on the basis of the
comitology procedure[6]
within three months of the Member State's request;
- recognition to be valid throughout the EU for five years and
for use by any Member States;
- the Commission or a Member State to be able to instigate a
process to remove recognition from non-EU countries whose compliance
with the STWC Conventions deteriorates during the five-year period;
and
- Member States not to be required to recognise Certificates
from a non-EU country which has successfully undergone the assessment
process.
5.3 The draft Directive also takes the opportunity to
deal two other points on which the 1995 Directive needs amendment
and requires:
- Certificates of Competency and any endorsements to have an
English translation — to comply with the STCW Conventions;
and
- use of English for safety communications between a ship and
land-based authorities, unless those directly involved both share
a common language which is not English — to comply with
the IMO's Safety of Life at Sea Convention.
The Government's view
5.4 The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department
of Transport (Mr David Jamieson) tells us:
"Broadly we welcome simplification of the procedure for recognising
Certificates of Competency issued by non-EU countries, but have
some concerns that the Commission's proposals will not accelerate
the processing of applications in the short term and may still
result in some duplication of effort. Until EMSA has accumulated
a significant amount of data on which to base its assessments,
the three-stage system now being proposed will do little to reduce
the three months between the Member State's request and the eventual
decision. Failure to speed up the system to recognise Certificates
will do little to encourage the owners of vessels crewed by seafarers
with Certificates issued by non-EU countries to join the register
of a Member State.
"However, there should be some reduction in the duplication
of effort in that each Member State would no longer have to conduct
its own detailed assessment of the non-EU country's systems. Furthermore,
the involvement of EMSA could be expected to lead to a more harmonised
approach to assessments as well as providing the Commission with
more expertise.
"While welcoming the thrust of the Commission's proposals
we have suggested that, to save both time and effort, a Member
State should not have to prepare a preliminary assessment of a
non-EU State's compliance with the international Conventions to
accompany its application to recognise the Certificates issued
by that State. Instead, EMSA should take the entire responsibility
for the assessment of a non-EU country at the direct instigation
of a Member State. From discussions in the Transport Working Groups
it appears that this line may be favoured by other Member States.
"We welcome the proposal for improving safety communications
between ship and shore based authorities by requiring the use
of English if those involved do not share a common language which
is not English. However, it must be clear as to who should be
able to speak English and to what standard of proficiency.
"We also welcome the Commission's proposal that Certificates
and endorsements should be translated into English. This brings
the Directive in line with the STCW Convention."
Conclusion
5.5 Whilst noting the Government's reservations on
the detail of this document, we endorse its broad welcome for
the proposed simplification of the procedure for recognition of
certificates of Competency and for the requirement for the use
of English in safety communications. We encourage the Minister
to pursue vigorously the further simplification he is seeking
and are content to clear the document.
6 A
committee system for implementation of powers delegated to the
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