Council Directive 98/18/EC of 17 March 1998 on safety rules and standards for passenger ships (3) has been substantially amended several times (4). Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity.
(2)
Within the framework of the common transport policy measures must be adopted to enhance safety in maritime transport.
(3)
The Community is seriously concerned about shipping casualties in which passenger ships were involved resulting in a massive loss of life. Persons using passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft throughout the Community have the right to expect and to rely on an appropriate level of safety on board.
(4)
Work equipment and personal protective equipment of workers are not covered by this Directive, because the provisions of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (5) and the relevant provisions of its relevant individual directives are applicable to the use of such equipment on passenger ships engaged on domestic voyages.
(5)
The provision of maritime passenger transport services between Member States has already been liberalised by Council Regulation (EEC) No 4055/86 of 22 December 1986 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport between Member States and between Member States and third countries (6). The application of the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport within Member States (maritime cabotage) has been provided for by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3577/92 (7).
(6)
To attain a high level of safety, and to remove barriers to trade, it is necessary to establish harmonised safety standards at an appropriate level for passenger ships and craft operating domestic services. Standards for vessels operating international voyages are being developed within the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Procedures to request action at the IMO in order to bring the standards for international voyages into line with the standards of this Directive should be available.
(7)
In view, in particular, of the internal market dimension of maritime passenger transport, action at Community level is the only possible way to establish a common level of safety for ships throughout the Community.
(8)
In view of the principle of proportionality, a Directive is the appropriate legal instrument as it provides a framework for a uniform and compulsory application of the safety standards by Member States, while leaving to each Member State the right to decide the implementation tools that best fit its internal system.
(9)
In the interests of improving safety and avoiding distortions of competition the common safety requirements should apply to passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft engaged on domestic voyages in the Community, irrespective of the flag they fly. It is, however, necessary to exclude some categories of ships for which the rules of this Directive are technically unsuitable or economically unviable.
(10)
Passenger ships should be divided into different classes depending upon the range and conditions of the sea areas in which they operate. High-speed passenger craft should be categorised in accordance with the provisions of the High-Speed Craft Code established by the IMO.
(11)
The main reference framework for the safety standards should be the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (the 1974 SOLAS Convention), as amended, which encompasses internationally agreed standards for passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft engaged on international voyages, as well as appropriate Resolutions adopted by the IMO and other measures complementing and interpreting that Convention.
(12)
The various classes of both new and existing passenger ships require a different approach for establishing safety requirements guaranteeing an equivalent safety level in view of the specific needs and limitations of those various classes. It is appropriate to make distinctions in the safety requirements to be respected as between new and existing ships since imposing the rules for new ships on existing ships would involve such extensive structural changes as to make them economically unviable.
(13)
The financial and technical implications arising from the upgrading of existing ships to the standards provided for by this Directive justify certain transitional periods.
(14)
In view of the substantial differences in the design, construction and use of high-speed passenger craft compared to traditional passenger ships, such craft should be required to respect special rules.
(15)
Shipborne marine equipment, complying with the provisions of Council Directive 96/98/EC of 20 December 1996 on marine equipment (8), when installed on board a passenger ship, should not be subject to additional tests since such equipment is already subject to the standards and procedures of that Directive.
(16)
Directive 2003/25/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 April 2003 on specific stability requirements for ro-ro passenger ships (9) introduced strengthened stability requirements for ro-ro passenger vessels operating on international services to and from Community ports, and this enhanced measure should also apply to certain categories of such vessels operating on domestic services under the same sea conditions. Failure to apply such stability requirements should be grounds for phasing out ro-ro passenger ships after a certain number of years of operation. In view of the structural modifications that the existing ro-ro passenger ships may need to undergo in order to comply with the specific stability requirements, those requirements should be introduced over a period of years in order to give the part of the industry affected sufficient time to comply: to that end, provision should be made for a phasing-in timetable for existing ships. This phasing-in timetable should not affect the enforcement of the specific stability requirements in the sea areas covered by the Annexes to the Stockholm Agreement of 28 February 1996.
(17)
It is important to apply appropriate measures to ensure access in safe conditions for persons with reduced mobility to passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft operating on domestic services in the Member States.
(18)
Subject to control under the Committee procedure, Member States may adopt additional safety requirements if justified by local circumstances, permit the use of equivalent standards, or adopt exemptions from the provisions of this Directive under certain operating conditions, or adopt safeguard measures in exceptional dangerous circumstances.
(19)
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) (10) centralised the tasks of the committees established under the pertinent Community legislation on maritime safety, the prevention of pollution from ships and the protection of shipboard living and working conditions.
(20)
The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (11).
(21)
In particular, the Commission should be empowered to adapt certain provisions of this Directive, including its Annexes, to take account of developments at international level and specifically amendments to International Conventions. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.
(22)
In order to monitor the effective implementation and enforcement of this Directive, surveys should be carried out on new and existing passenger ships and craft. Compliance with this Directive should be certified by or on behalf of the Administration of the flag State.
(23)
In order to ensure full application of this Directive, Member States should lay down a system of penalties for breach of the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive and should monitor compliance with the provisions of this Directive on the basis of provisions modelled on those laid down in Council Directive 95/21/EC of 19 June 1995 on port State control of shipping (12).
(24)
The new elements introduced into this Directive only concern the committee procedures. They therefore do not need to be transposed by the Member States.
(25)
This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limits for transposition into national law and application of the Directives set out in Annex IV, Part B,
