Directive 2008/106/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) has been substantially amended several times (4). In the interests of clarity and rationality, that Directive should be codified.
(2)
In order to maintain, and to aim to improve, a high level of maritime safety and the prevention of pollution at sea, it is essential to maintain and possibly to improve the level of knowledge and skills of Union seafarers by developing maritime training and certification in line with international rules and technological progress, as well as to take further action to enhance the European maritime skills base.
(3)
The training and certification of seafarers is regulated at international level by the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978 (STCW Convention) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which was subject to a major revision at a Conference of Parties to the STCW Convention held in Manila in 2010 (Manila amendments). Further amendments to the STCW Convention were adopted in 2015 and in 2016.
(4)
This Directive incorporates the STCW Convention into Union law. All Member States are signatories to the STCW Convention and thus a harmonised implementation of their international commitments is to be achieved through the alignment of Union rules on the training and certification of seafarers with the STCW Convention.
(5)
The Union shipping sector has maritime expertise of a high quality which helps to underpin its competitiveness. The quality of training for seafarers is important for the competitiveness of this sector and for attracting Union citizens, in particular young people, to the maritime professions.
(6)
Member States may establish higher standards than the minimum standards laid down in the STCW Convention and in this Directive.
(7)
The Regulations of the STCW Convention annexed to this Directive should be supplemented by the mandatory provisions contained in Part A of the Seafarers’ Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Code (STCW Code). Part B of the STCW Code contains recommended guidance intended to assist Parties to the STCW Convention, and those involved in implementing, applying or enforcing its measures, to give the Convention full and complete effect in a uniform manner.
(8)
One of the objectives of the common transport policy in the field of maritime transport is to facilitate the movement of seafarers within the Union. Such movement contributes, among other things, to making the Union maritime transport sector attractive to future generations, thereby avoiding a situation whereby the European maritime cluster is faced with a shortage of competent staff with the right mix of skills and competencies. The mutual recognition of seafarers’ certificates issued by Member States is essential to facilitate the free movement of seafarers. In the light of the right to good administration, Member States’ decisions in respect of the acceptance of certificates of proficiency issued to seafarers by other Member States for the purpose of issuing national certificates of competency should be based on reasons that are capable of being ascertained by the seafarer concerned.
(9)
Training for seafarers should cover proper theoretical and practical training so as to ensure that seafarers are qualified to meet security and safety standards and are able to respond to hazards and emergencies.
(10)
Member States should take and enforce specific measures to prevent and penalise fraudulent practices associated with certificates of competency and certificates of proficiency as well as pursue their efforts within the IMO to achieve strict and enforceable agreements on the worldwide fight against such practices.
(11)
Quality standards and quality standards systems should be developed and implemented taking into account, where applicable, the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 (5) and related measures adopted by the Member States.
(12)
For the enhancement of maritime safety and the prevention of pollution at sea, provisions on minimum rest periods for watchkeeping personnel should be laid down in this Directive in accordance with the STCW Convention. Those provisions should be applied without prejudice to the provisions of Council Directive 1999/63/EC (6).
(13)
European social partners have agreed on minimum hours of rest applicable to seafarers and Directive 1999/63/EC was adopted with a view to implementing that agreement. That Directive also allows for the possibility to authorise exceptions to the minimum hours of rest for seafarers. The possibility to authorise exceptions should, however, be limited in terms of the maximum duration, frequency and scope. The Manila amendments aimed, amongst other things, to set objective limits to the exceptions to the minimum rest hours for watchkeeping personnel and seafarers with designated tasks related to safety, security and the prevention of pollution, with a view to preventing fatigue. Therefore, this Directive should reflect the Manila amendments in a manner that ensures coherence with Directive 1999/63/EC.
(14)
In order to enhance maritime safety and prevent loss of human life and maritime pollution, communication among crew members on board ships sailing in Union waters should be ensured.
(15)
Personnel on board passenger ships nominated to assist passengers in emergency situations should be able to communicate with the passengers.
(16)
Crews serving on board tankers carrying noxious or polluting cargo should be capable of coping effectively with accident prevention and emergency situations. It is paramount that a proper communication link between the master, officers and ratings is established, covering the requirements provided for in this Directive.
(17)
It is essential to ensure that seafarers holding certificates issued by third countries and serving on board Union ships have a level of competence equivalent to that required by the STCW Convention. This Directive should lay down procedures and common criteria for the recognition by the Member States of seafarers’ certificates issued by third countries, based on the training and certification requirements as agreed in the framework of the STCW Convention.
(18)
In the interests of safety at sea, Member States should recognise qualifications proving the required level of training only where these are issued by or on behalf of Parties to the STCW Convention which have been identified by the IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) as having been shown to have given, and still to be giving, full effect to the standards set out in that Convention. To bridge the time gap until the MSC has been able to carry out such identification, a procedure for the preliminary recognition of certificates is needed.
(19)
This Directive contains a centralised system for the recognition of seafarers’ certificates issued by third countries. In order to use the available human and financial resources in an efficient way, the procedure for the recognition of third countries should be based on an analysis of the need for such recognition, including but not limited to an indication of the estimated number of masters, officers and radio operators originating from that third country who are likely to be serving on ships flying the flags of Member States. That analysis should be submitted for examination to the Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS).
(20)
In order to ensure the right of all seafarers to decent employment and in order to limit distortions of competition in the internal market, for the future recognition of third countries it should be considered whether those third countries have ratified the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006.
(21)
In order to ensure the efficiency of the centralised system for the recognition of seafarers’ certificates issued by third countries, a reassessment of third countries which provide a low number of seafarers to ships flying the flags of Member States should be performed at intervals of 10 years. This long period of reassessment of the system of such third countries should be combined with priority criteria which take into account safety concerns, balancing the need for efficiency with an effective safeguard mechanism in case of a deterioration in the quality of seafarers’ training provided in the relevant third countries.
(22)
Where appropriate, maritime institutes, training programmes and courses should be inspected. Criteria for such inspection should therefore be established.
(23)
The European Maritime Safety Agency established by Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) should assist the Commission in verifying that Member States comply with the requirements laid down in this Directive.
(24)
Information on the seafarers employed from third countries has become available at Union level through the communication by Member States of the relevant information kept in their national registers regarding issued certificates and endorsements. That information should be used for statistical and policy-making purposes, in particular for the purpose of improving the efficiency of the centralised system for the recognition of seafarers’ certificates issued by third countries. Based on the information communicated by the Member States, the recognition of third countries which have not provided seafarers to ships flying the flags of Member States for a period of at least eight years should be re-examined. The re-examination process should cover the possibility of retaining or withdrawing the recognition of the relevant third country. In addition, the information communicated by the Member States should also be used in order to prioritise the reassessment of the recognised third countries.
(25)
Member States, as port authorities, are required to enhance safety and the prevention of pollution in Union waters through priority inspection of vessels flying the flag of a third country which has not ratified the STCW Convention, thereby ensuring that vessels flying the flag of a third country do not enjoy more favourable treatment.
(26)
The provisions for the recognition of professional qualifications set out in Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (8) did not apply with regard to the recognition of seafarers’ certificates under Directive 2008/106/EC. Directive 2005/45/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) regulated the mutual recognition of seafarers’ certificates issued by the Member States. However, the definitions of seafarers’ certificates referred to in Directive 2005/45/EC became obsolete following the 2010 amendments to the STCW Convention. Therefore, the mutual recognition scheme of seafarers’ certificates issued by Member States should be regulated so as to reflect the international amendments. In addition, the seafarers’ medical certificates issued under the authority of Member States should also be included in the mutual recognition scheme. In order to avoid any ambiguity and the risk of inconsistencies between Directive 2005/45/EC and this Directive, the mutual recognition of seafarers’ certificates should be regulated by this Directive only. Furthermore, in order to reduce the administrative burden on Member States, an electronic system for the presentation of seafarers’ qualifications should be introduced once the relevant amendments to the STCW Convention have been adopted.
(27)
Digitalisation of data is part and parcel of technological progress in the area of data collection and communication with a view to helping to bring down costs and making efficient use of human resources. The Commission should consider measures in order to enhance the effectiveness of port State control, including, inter alia, an evaluation of the feasibility and added value of setting up and managing a central database of seafarers’ certificates which would be linked to the inspection database referred to in Article 24 of Directive 2009/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (10), and to which all Member States would be connected. That central database should contain all the information, set out in Annex III to this Directive, on certificates of competency and endorsements attesting the recognition of certificates of proficiency issued in accordance with Regulations V/1-1 and V/1-2 of the STCW Convention.
(28)
The Commission should establish a dialogue with social partners and Member States to develop maritime training initiatives additional to the internationally agreed minimum level of training of seafarers, and which could be mutually recognised by Member States as European Maritime Diplomas of Excellence. Those initiatives should build upon, and be developed in line with, the recommendations of the ongoing pilot projects and strategies in the Commission’s Blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills.
(29)
In order to take account of developments at international level and to ensure the timely adaptation of Union rules to such developments, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of incorporating amendments to the STCW Convention and Part A of the STCW Code by updating the technical requirements on the training and certification of seafarers and by aligning all the relevant provisions of this Directive in relation to the digital certificates for seafarers. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (11). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
(30)
In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of the provisions of this Directive concerning the recognition of third countries, as well as in relation to the statistical data on seafarers to be supplied by Member States to the Commission, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12).
(31)
Since the objective of this Directive, namely the alignment of the rules of the Union with international rules on the training and certification of seafarers, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
(32)
This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Members States relating to the time-limits for the transposition into national law of the Directives set out in Annex IV, Part B,
