50 Port State Control
| Committee's assessment
| Legally and politically important |
| Committee's decision | Cleared from scrutiny
|
| Document details | Draft Council Decision concerning the EU's position on annual decisions under an international agreement on Port State Control
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| Legal base | Articles 100(2) and 218(9) TFEU; —; QMV
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| Department
Document numbers
| Transport
(36791), 8001/15 + ADDs 1-2, COM(15) 159
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Summary and Committee's conclusions
50.1 The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control
concerns inspections of foreign flag ships in a Port State's waters
to ensure compliance with relevant maritime conventions. Port
State Control is seen as a second line of defence against substandard
shipping due to a serious failure of ship owners and some flag
States. The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control
Committee, which comprises all 27 members (including coastal Member
States) of the Memorandum of Understanding, meets annually in
May to discuss and agree, by consensus, matters of Port State
Control policy.
50.2 Since 1995 the EU has had legislation on Port
State Control. The current legislation makes various references
to the Paris Memorandum of Understanding and its procedures on
Port State Control. As a result the EU has acquired exclusive
competence in relation to those elements of the Memorandum and
further agreements made under its auspices, to the extent that
this EU legislation is affected. As the EU is not a member of
the Memorandum of Understanding, Member States are not able to
assume obligations likely to affect the EU legislation unless
they are authorised to do so by means of a Council Decision.
50.3 In previous years a coordination meeting with
Member States has been held prior to meetings of the Port State
Control Committee, under the auspices of a Council Shipping Working
Party, followed by a Commission non-paper detailing the agreed
positions on certain agenda items during the committee meeting.
50.4 Earlier this year the Commission proposed a
change of approach. It put forward this draft Council Decision
on the positions to be adopted on behalf of the EU at the annual
Port State Control Committee meetings during the period 2015-18.
Its proposal for a multiannual Council Decision was made up of
two parts: Annex I setting out guiding principles and Annex II
setting out a process for the adoption of the specific positions
each year relevant to each year's committee meeting. The Commission
proposed that it should prepare non-papers setting out an envisaged
EU position for discussion and agreement in the Council Shipping
Working Party ahead of each annual meeting.
50.5 The Government tells us that Member States were
unhappy with this proposal and that in May the Council adopted
a compromise text which made the Council Decision applicable only
to the May 2015 meeting of the Port State Control Committee and
only addressed positions to be adopted on behalf of the EU with
respect to the five papers to be considered at that meeting which
fell within exclusive EU competence. The Government also tells
us that, although it welcomes the compromise text, it abstained
from the Council agreement, because the matter was still under
scrutiny.
50.6 Given both that an acceptable Council Decision
emerged and that the Government did not breach the Scrutiny Reserve
Resolution we clear this document from scrutiny.
Full
details of the documents: Draft Council
Decision on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European
Union, in the Port State Control Committee of the Paris Memorandum
of Understanding on Port State Control: (36791), 8001/15 + ADDs
1-2, COM(15) 159.
Background
50.7 The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris
MoU) on Port State Control (PSC) has existed since 1983 when 14
likeminded countries (including the UK) signed a memorandum on
the undertaking of PSC inspections on foreign flag ships in their
waters to ensure compliance with relevant maritime conventions.
PSC is seen as a second line of defence against substandard shipping
due to a serious failure of shipowners and some flag States. The
Paris MoU now comprises 27 members (the Russian Federation, Canada,
Iceland, Norway and the coastal Member States of the EU). The
Paris MoU PSC Committee (PSCC), which comprises all members of
the Paris MoU, meets annually in May to discuss and agree, by
consensus, matters of PSC policy.
50.8 Following a major pollution incident off the
coasts of the Shetland Islands in 1993 the Commission proposed
a Directive on PSC, which became Directive 1995/21/EC. Following
the 'Erika' pollution incident in 1999, off the coast of Britany,
the Commission presented the Third Maritime Safety Package
which included a recast Directive on PSC, Directive 2009/16/EC,
which makes various references to the Paris MoU and its procedures
on PSC.
50.9 Although the EU is not a member of the Paris
MoU, under Article 218(9) TFEU Member States are not authorised
to assume obligations likely to affect EU rules unless they are
authorised to do so by means of a Council Decision.
The document
50.10 In previous years a coordination meeting with
the EU members has been held prior to meetings of the PSCC, under
the auspices of a Council Shipping Working Party, followed by
a Commission non-paper detailing the agreed positions on certain
agenda items during the PSCC.
50.11 The Commission has now proposed a change of
approach. It considers the actions of the PSCC to come under exclusive
EU competence, which the EU has acquired pursuant to Article 3(2)
TFEU, in so far as the decisions made by the committee may affect
or alter the scope of EU rules.
50.12 The Commission therefore put forward this draft
Council Decision on the positions to be adopted on behalf of the
EU at the annual PSCC meetings during the period 2015-18. Its
proposal for a multiannual Council Decision was made up of two
parts: Annex I setting out guiding principles and Annex II setting
out a process for the adoption of the specific positions each
year relevant to each year's PSCC. The Commission proposed that
it should prepare non-papers setting out an envisaged EU position
for discussion and agreement in the Council Shipping Working Party
ahead of each annual PSCC meeting.
The Government's view
50.13 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 26 May 2015
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport
(Mr Robert Goodwill) first notes that:
· Article
4 TFEU provides that transport is a shared competence of the EU;
and
· as both
the current and former Directives directly refer to and copy out
the rules of procedures for PSC into the Directives, it has been
accepted by previous Governments that some of the actions of the
PSCC are capable of coming under exclusive EU competence pursuant
to Article 3(2) TFEU, since the decisions made at the PSCC meetings
may affect or alter the scope of EU rules.
50.14 The Minister then reports that:
· Member
States gave the Commission proposal its initial consideration
at a Shipping Working Party meeting on 22 April;
· a number
raised significant concerns about the proposal — some concerns
were based on questions about the status of the Paris MoU and
therefore the applicability of Article 218(9) TFEU, while others
were about the scope of the draft Council Decision in that it
would cover positions to be adopted by Member States at PSCC meetings
for the next four years;
· the
Government shared these concerns particularly as debate in the
PSCC is generally technical in nature and too difficult to reduce
to a set of general principles;
· as a
result of the discussions in the Shipping Working Party, the Presidency
was asked to rewrite the proposed Council Decision in such a way
that it was limited to areas where exclusive EU competence could
be demonstrated;
· the
Presidency therefore proposed a compromise text which substantively
revised the proposed Council Decision — in particular the
compromise text made the Council Decision applicable only to the
May 2015 meeting of the PSCC and only addressed positions to be
adopted on behalf of the EU with respect to the five papers to
be considered at the PSCC which would result in decisions which
are deemed to have direct legal effect on EU rules; and
· the
compromise text was agreed by the Council on 18 May.
50.15 The Minister comments that:
· the
Government welcomes the compromise text of the Council Decision;
· the
issues debated at the PSCC, and the various Paris MoU technical
groups which meet throughout the year, are highly technical in
nature;
· therefore,
the position of the EU and its Member States would be difficult
to reduce to a set of general principles that can be used every
year;
· the
Government also considers that a multiannual Council Decision
on this matter would set an unhelpful precedent;
· the
changes to the Paris MoU covered by the Council Decision would
only make minimal changes in the UK's enforcement activities and
do not have any policy implications; and
· the
Government did not consider, however, that the proposal justified
a scrutiny override, and it therefore abstained when the Council
agreed to the compromise proposal on 18 May.
50.16 The Minister adds that:
· the
Commission remains committed to the principle of a multiannual
Decision, arguing that this is a more pragmatic approach given
that the parameter of discussions at the Paris MoU is fairly stable
and that the documents only become available a short time before
the meeting; and
· it may,
therefore, bring forward further such proposals, which would of
course be subject to further parliamentary scrutiny.
Previous Committee Reports
None.
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