Directive 2017/2108 - Amendment of Directive 2009/45/EC on safety rules and standards for passenger ships - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 315/40

To maintain a high level of safety, and thereby passenger confidence, provided by common safety standards defined by Directive 2009/45/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) and to preserve a level playing field, it is necessary to improve the application of that Directive. Directive 2009/45/EC should apply only to the passenger ships and craft for which the safety standards of that Directive were designed. A number of specific ship types should therefore be excluded from the scope of that Directive, and in particular tenders, sailing ships and ships transporting, for example to offshore installations, trained personnel who are not engaged in the business of the ship.

Ship-carried tenders are used to ferry passengers from passenger ships directly to shore and back, taking the shortest safe sea route. They are not appropriate, and should not be used, for other types of services such as coastal sightseeing excursions. Such excursions should be undertaken by ships that meet the requirements for passenger ships of the coastal State, as stated, inter alia, by the IMO guidelines (MSC.1/Circ. 1417 on Guidelines for passenger ship tenders). Member States and the Commission should promote discussion at the IMO with a view to reviewing the guidelines in order to increase safety. The Commission should assess the need to make the guidelines mandatory.

Directive 2009/45/EC excludes passenger ships that are not propelled by mechanical means from its scope. Sailing ships should not be certified in accordance with that Directive where their mechanical propulsion is only intended for auxiliary and emergency use. The Commission should therefore assess the need for common European requirements for this category of passenger ship by 2020.

Offshore installations are served by vessels that transport industrial personnel. Those industrial personnel are required to successfully complete a course of mandatory safety training and to satisfy certain mandatory medical fitness criteria. They should therefore be covered by different and specific safety rules that are outside the scope of this Directive. Member States and the Commission should actively support the ongoing work of the IMO in the field of safety standards for offshore vessels, further to IMO resolution MSC.418(97).

The Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT) has shown that not all Member States certify aluminium ships under Directive 2009/45/EC. This creates an unequal situation that undermines the objective of achieving a common, high safety level for passengers sailing domestically in the Union. To avoid the non-uniform application arising from different interpretations of the definition of aluminium as an equivalent material and the applicability of the corresponding fire safety standards, resulting in different interpretations of the Directive's scope, the definition of ‘equivalent material’ in Directive 2009/45/EC should be clarified. Member States should be allowed to opt for stricter fire prevention measures in...