EUROPEAN MARITIME SAFETY AGENCY: POLLUTION
CAUSED BY SHIPS (9577/05)
Letter from Stephen Ladyman MP, Minister
of State for Transport, Department for Transport to the Chairman
You may recall my Explanatory Memorandum (EM)
9577/05 of June 2005 on the proposed Regulation on a multi-annual
funding for EMSA to enable it to respond to maritime pollution
incidents. Your Committee cleared the EM at the 1217th Chairman's
sift (14 June 2005).
I am now writing to update you on the outcome
of the European Parliament's (EP) first reading of this dossier.
The EP supports the purpose of the Regulation
and has considered ways to strengthen it. The EP's Committee on
Transport and Tourism originally tabled 21 amendments. Following
discussions with the Commission and the Council, the EP dropped
15 of its original amendments and submitted a further 14 compromise
amendments. The 20 amendments outstanding were agreed subsequently
at the EP's plenary meeting on 3 September 2006.
The amendments:
— stress the need for EMSA to pay attention
to those coastal areas which are considered particularly vulnerable
to pollution but without prejudice to any other area;
— emphasise that the existing Member
State responsibilities with respect to pollution response mechanisms
should not be affected by EMSA's work;
— stress the need for EMSA, in accordance
with its Action Plan, to play an active role in developing a centralised
satellite-based service to assist the Member States in the detection
of pollution and to help identify the ships responsible;
— define "oil" and "hazardous
and noxious substances";
— seek to provide EMSA with funding
for its anti-pollution facilities in the medium to long-term;
— require the EP to be provided with
an annual report on how EMSA is executing its counter pollution
plan; and
— stress the need for the Commission
to propose changes to the Regulation if deemed necessary by scientific
progress.
The Government is pleased that the amendments
put forward by the EP are constructive and do not seek to alter
the planned budget of €154 million which has been approved
to finance EMSA's anti-pollution responses for the years 2007
to 2013. The Government considers that this level of funding is
sufficient to provide real added value to the existing assets
available to coastal EU Member States to deal with marine pollution
incidents, but without compromising their international responsibilites
in terms of providing an effective counter pollution response
capacity.
It is expected that the Council will agree the
compromise amendments put forward by the EP and that a first reading
deal will be achieved shortly. In which case, the Regulation is
likely to be published in the Official Journal next spring.
13 December 2006
Letter from the Chairman to Stephen Ladyman
MP
Thank you for your letter of 13 December. Sub-Committee
B considered your letter at its meeting on 8 January 2007.
We were very grateful to you for updating the
Committee on the progess of the Regulation following its first
reading in the European Parliament, and are satisfied that the
amendments agreed in the Parliament are in line with the UK's
priorities. In particular we note that the budget appears to strike
the right balance between adding value to the resources available
to coastal Member States without comprising their international
commitments.
9 January 2007
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