Legal provisions of COM(2023)270 - Amendment of Directive 2009/18/EC establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector
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dossier | COM(2023)270 - Amendment of Directive 2009/18/EC establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the ... |
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document | COM(2023)270 ![]() |
date | November 27, 2024 |
Article 1
Amendments to Directive 2009/18/EC
Directive 2009/18/EC is amended as follows:
(1) | in Article 1, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2. Since the purpose of marine safety investigations (“safety investigations”) pursuant to this Directive is not to determine liability or apportion blame, no fault or liability shall be inferred from the findings of those investigations. Member States shall ensure that the marine safety investigation authorities (“safety investigation authorities”) are not prevented or hindered from fully reporting the causes of a marine casualty or incident.’ ; |
(2) | in Article 2(2), point (d) is deleted; |
(3) | Article 3 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 3 Definitions For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply:
(*1) Directive (EU) 2017/2110 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2017 on a system of inspections for the safe operation of ro-ro passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft in regular service and amending Directive 2009/16/EC and repealing Council Directive 1999/35/EC (OJ L 315, 30.11.2017, p. 61)." (*2) Regulation (EU) 2017/1130 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 defining characteristics for fishing vessels (OJ L 169, 30.6.2017, p. 1).’;" |
(4) | Article 4 is amended as follows:
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(5) | Articles 5 and 6 are replaced by the following: ‘Article 5 Obligation to investigate 1. Each Member State shall ensure that a safety investigation is carried out by the safety investigation authority referred to in Article 8 after any very serious marine casualty:
2. In the case of a fishing vessel of less than 15 metres in length, the safety investigation authority shall without delay and no later than two months after the very serious marine casualty referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, carry out a preliminary assessment to determine whether to conduct a safety investigation. Where the safety investigation authority decides not to conduct such a safety investigation, the reasons for that decision shall without delay and no later than two months after the very serious marine casualty be recorded and notified in accordance with Article 17(3). 3. When deciding whether to conduct a safety investigation in accordance with paragraph 2, the safety investigation authority shall take into account the evidence available, as well as the potential for the findings of the safety investigation to lead to the prevention of future marine casualties and incidents. 4. In the case of any marine casualty or incident not covered by paragraph 1, 2 or 3, the safety investigation authority shall decide whether to conduct a safety investigation. 5. The scope and practical arrangements for the conduct of safety investigation shall be determined by the safety investigation authority of the lead investigating Member State in cooperation with the equivalent authorities of the other substantially interested States, in a manner that the safety investigation authority of the lead investigating Member State believes will be most conducive to achieving the objective of this Directive, and with a view to preventing future marine casualties and incidents. 6. When carrying out safety investigation, the safety investigation authority shall follow the IMO Guidelines to Assist Investigators in the Implementation of the Casualty Investigation Code. Investigators may depart from those guidelines where this can be justified as necessary, in their professional judgement, in order to achieve the aims of the safety investigation. The Commission may adopt recommendations for the implementation of those guidelines, taking into account any relevant lessons drawn from safety investigations, and after consulting the safety investigation authorities in the context of the permanent cooperation framework referred to in Article 10. 7. When deciding whether a marine casualty or incident occurring when a ship is alongside, moored or in dock, involving shore or port workers, occurred “directly in connection with the operations of a ship” and, therefore, is subject to a safety investigation, Member States shall, in accordance with their national law, give particular consideration to the involvement of the ship’s structure, equipment, procedures, crew and ship management in and their relevance to the activity being undertaken. 8. A safety investigation shall be started without delay after the occurrence of the marine casualty or incident, and, in any event, no later than two months thereafter. 9. In accordance with national law, if in the course of a safety investigation it becomes known or it is suspected that an offence has been committed under Articles 3, 3bis, 3ter or 3quater of the IMO Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 10 March 1988, in its up-to-date version, the safety investigation authority shall immediately inform the maritime security authorities of the Member State or Member States and of any third country concerned thereof. Article 6 Obligation to notify A Member State shall require, in the framework of its legal system, that its safety investigation authority be notified without delay, by the responsible authorities or by the parties involved, or by both, of the occurrence of all marine casualties and incidents falling within the scope of this Directive.’ ; |
(6) | Article 7 is amended as follows:
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(7) | Articles 8 and 9 are replaced by the following: ‘Article 8 Safety investigation authority 1. Member States shall ensure that safety investigations are conducted under the responsibility of an impartial, independent and permanent safety investigation authority, endowed with the necessary powers and with sufficient means and financial resources, and with suitably qualified investigators, competent in matters relating to marine casualties and incidents, in order to comply with their obligations pursuant to this Directive. Safety investigation authorities shall not be precluded from appointing on a temporary basis appropriate investigators with the necessary specialist skills to form part of a safety investigation, or from using consultants to provide it with expert advice on any aspect of a safety investigation. In order to conduct a safety investigation in an unbiased manner, the safety investigation authority shall be independent in its organisation, legal structure and decision-making of any party whose interests could conflict with the task entrusted to it. Landlocked Member States which have neither ships nor vessels flying their flag within the scope of this Directive shall identify an independent body to serve as a focal point for cooperation on the safety investigation pursuant to Article 5(1), point (c). 2. The safety investigation authority shall ensure that individual investigators have a working knowledge of, and practical experience in, those subject areas pertaining to their normal investigative duties. Additionally, the safety investigation authority shall ensure ready access to appropriate expertise, as necessary. 3. The activities entrusted to the safety investigation authority may be extended to the gathering and analysis of data relating to maritime safety, in particular for prevention purposes, insofar as those activities do not affect its independence or entail responsibility in regulatory, administrative or standardisation matters. 4. Member States, acting in the framework of their respective legal systems, shall ensure that the investigators of their safety investigation authority, or of any other safety investigation authority to which they have delegated the task of safety investigation, where appropriate in collaboration with the authorities responsible for the judicial inquiry, are provided with any information and technological means pertinent to the conduct of the safety investigation and therefore are authorised to:
5. The safety investigation authority shall be enabled to respond immediately on being notified at any time of a casualty, and to obtain sufficient resources to carry out its functions independently. Its investigators shall be afforded a status that gives them the necessary guarantees of independence. 6. The safety investigation authority may combine its tasks under this Directive with the work of investigating occurrences other than marine casualties or incidents on condition that such safety investigations do not endanger its independence. 7. Each Member State may develop, implement and maintain a quality management system for its safety investigation authority. 8. The permanent cooperation framework referred to in Article 10 shall support safety investigation authorities and enhance their safety investigation capabilities by drawing up guidance and recommendations to ensure that safety investigations are conducted in a consistent manner, and shall in this regard develop and implement a peer review programme. Article 9 Confidentiality 1. Without prejudice to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*3), a Member State, acting in the framework of its legal system, shall ensure that the following records are not made available for purposes other than the safety investigation, unless that Member State’s competent authority concludes that there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of those records, including where that competent authority concludes that the benefits of the disclosure outweigh the adverse domestic and international impact that such disclosure could have on that or any future safety investigation:
2. VDR and S-VDR recordings from a safety investigation shall not be made available or used for purposes other than those of the safety investigation or of ship safety, unless such recordings are anonymised or disclosed under secure procedures. 3. For the purposes referred to in paragraph 1, only data that is strictly necessary shall be disclosed. 4. Member States may decide to limit the cases in which a disclosure as referred to in paragraph 3 may be taken, while respecting Union law. (*3) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).’;" |
(8) | Article 10 is amended as follows:
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(9) | in Article 12, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following: ‘3. The cooperation of a Member State in a safety investigation conducted by a substantially interested third country shall be without prejudice to its compliance with the conduct and reporting requirements of safety investigations under this Directive. Where a substantially interested third country is leading a safety investigation involving one or more Member States, those Member States may decide not to conduct a parallel safety investigation, provided that the safety investigation led by the third country is conducted in accordance with the IMO Casualty Investigation Code. In such cases, Article 14 shall not apply to the safety investigation authorities.’ ; |
(10) | in Article 13, point (a) is replaced by the following:
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(11) | Article 14 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 14 Accident reports 1. Safety investigations carried out under this Directive shall result in a published accident report presented in a format defined by the competent safety investigation authority and in accordance with the relevant sections of Annex I. A safety investigation authority may decide to publish only a concise report on a safety investigation, where:
2. A safety investigation authority shall make every effort to make the accident report referred to in paragraph 1, including its conclusions and any possible recommendations, available to the public, and especially to the maritime sector, within 12 months of the date of the marine casualty or incident. If, in the case of a very serious marine casualty, it is not possible to produce the final accident report within that time, an interim accident report shall be published within 12 months of the date of the marine casualty or incident. 3. The safety investigation authority of the lead investigating Member State shall send a copy of the final or interim report to the Commission. The safety investigation authority shall take into account any technical observations of the Commission on final reports provided that those observations do not affect the substance of the findings, in order to improve the quality of the accident report in the way most conducive to achieving the objective of this Directive. 4. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 20 in order to amend the following parts of Annex I to this Directive: “2. Factual information”, “3. Narrative” and “4. Analysis”.’ ; |
(12) | in Article 15, paragraphs 1 and 2 are replaced by the following: ‘1. Member States shall ensure that safety recommendations made by the safety investigation authorities are duly taken into account by the addressees, in particular with a view to preventing future accidents, and, where appropriate, are given an adequate follow-up in accordance with Union and international law. 2. Where appropriate, a safety investigation authority or the Commission shall make safety recommendations on the basis of an abstract data analysis and of the overall results of safety investigations carried out.’ ; |
(13) | in Article 16, the first paragraph is replaced by the following: ‘Without prejudice to its right to give an early alert, the safety investigation authority shall, at any stage of a safety investigation, if it takes the view that urgent action is needed at Union level to prevent the risk of new casualties, inform the Commission without delay of the need to give an early alert.’ ; |
(14) | Article 17 is amended as follows:
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(15) | the following article is inserted: ‘Article 17a Training and operational support 1. The Commission, with the assistance of the Agency and in cooperation with Member States, shall facilitate the development of capacities within and the sharing of knowledge between the safety investigation authorities through the provision of regular training on new legal and technological developments, specific techniques and tools and technologies relating to ships, their equipment and operations, depending on the needs of safety investigation authorities. 2. At the request of the safety investigation authorities, and assuming that no conflict of interest arises, the Commission shall provide operational support to the Member States in the conduct of their safety investigations. Such support may include the provision of specialised analytical tools or equipment, as well as specific expertise, provided that the provision of support does not result in the independence of the safety investigation authorities concerned being compromised.’ ; |
(16) | Articles 19 and 20 are replaced by the following: ‘Article 19 Committee procedure 1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) established by Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*4). That Committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*5). 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply. Article 20 Exercise of the delegation 1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. 2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles 14(4) and 17(5) shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from 26 December 2024. 3. The delegation of power referred to in Articles 14(4) and 17(5) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect on the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. 4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (*6). 5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. 6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 14(4) and 17(5) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and to the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council. (*4) Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 establishing a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) and amending the Regulations on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships (OJ L 324, 29.11.2002, p. 1)." (*5) Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by the Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13)." (*6) OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.’;" |
(17) | the following article is inserted: ‘Article 20a Amendments to the IMO Casualty Investigation Code The amendments to the IMO Casualty Investigation Code shall apply, without prejudice to the Conformity checking procedure set out in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002.’ ; |
(18) | Article 23 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 23 Implementation review The Commission shall by 27 June 2032 submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of, and compliance with, this Directive, and, if necessary, shall propose further measures in the light of the recommendations set out therein, including considering the possibility of including mandatory safety investigation for fishing vessels of less than 15 meters in length in the scope of this Directive and the impact thereof on the workload of the safety investigation authorities.’ ; |
(19) | Annex I is amended as follows:
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(20) | in Annex II, point 30 is replaced by the following:
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Article 2
Transposition
1. Member States shall adopt and publish, by 27 June 2027, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.
When Member States adopt those measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main measures of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
Article 3
Repeal
Regulation (EU) No 1286/2011 is repealed with effect from 27 June 2027.
Article 4
Entry into force
This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Article 5
Addressees
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.