INLAND WATERWAY VESSELS (10522/00)
Letter from Stephen Ladyman MP, Minister
of State for Transport, Department for Transport to the Chairman
I am writing to update your Committee on the
progress made in negotiations on the above dossier following the
European Parliament's second reading. This proposal was originally
launced in 1997 and your Committee referred the Explanatory Memorandum
on an amended version of the proposal to Sub-Committe B on 3 October
2000 (1043rd sift). Lord Tordoff wrote to Keith Hill on 18 October
2000[30]
requesting to be kept informed of negotiations and maintaining
the scrutiny reserve. Further updates were supplied to the Committee
by Keith Hill in his letter to Lord Tordoff on 14 November 2000[31]
and David Jamieson in his letter to Lord Brabazon on 11 April
2002.[32]
In his response on 24 April 2002,[33]
Lord Brabazon expressed your Committee's concern that nothing
in the proposed Directive should compromise existing UK safety
standards. David Jamieson wrote to you on 19 November 2004[34]
and confirmed that the Directive will have the benefit of levering-up
safety standards at the European level but without diluting standards
or increasing safety risks on UK inland waterways.
As you may recall, the UK's priority in the
negotiations has been to safeguard our domestic safety standards
for inland waterways which have been enhanced since the Marchioness
disaster. Following the extensive negotiations on this dossier,
which have been necessary due to the technical complexity of the
subject matter, the proposal now secures the UK's existing domestic
safety standards.
The Transport Committee of the European Parliament
did table three amendments on the dossier on 1 June 2006 which
would have had the effect of excluding recreational craft of up
to 24 metres from the scope of the Directive because of the existence
of the Recreational Craft Directive 94/25/EC. However, 94/25/EC
applies to "point of sale" standards and not to "in
service" standards. The effect of the proposed amendments
was therefore to have no harmonised standards across the EU for
recreational craft. Boat owners would then have been denied the
opportunity to use their boats freely on any EU inland water without
their having to meet specific national standards. Consequently,
the UK lobbied against the proposed amendments and only one amendment
was supported in the Parliament's plenary. This amendment requires
the annexes of 94/25/EC and the new Inland Waterways Directive
to be adjusted in comitology to ensure there are no contradictions
or inconsistencies between them.
The Government is satisfied with this outcome
and is pleased that we have secured the UK's key objectives on
this dossier, and that our own UK inland waterway safety standards
will not be diluted. We expect that the Directive will come into
force next Spring and there will then be a two-year transposition
period.
17 October 2006
Letter from the Chairman to Stephen Ladyman
MP
Thank you for your letter dated 17 October 2006,
which Sub-Committee B considered at its meeting on 30 October
2006.
We were grateful to you for updating us and
congratulate you for securing a proposal which "now secures
the UK's existing domestic standards" after what proved to
be lengthy and difficult negotiations.
3 November 2006
30 Correspondence with Ministers, 6th Report of Session
2000-01, HL Paper 15, p 37. Back
31
Correspondence with Ministers, 6th Report of Session 2000-01,
HL Paper 15, pp 37-38. Back
32
Correspondence with Ministers, 27th Report of Session 2001-02,
HL Paper 146, p 43. Back
33
Correspondence with Ministers, 27th Report of Session 2001-02,
HL Paper 146, p 43. Back
34
Correspondence with Ministers, 4th Report of Session 2005-06,
HL Paper 16, pp 81-82. Back
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