Transmission of information concerning certain ships
1. Ships meeting the criteria set out below shall be considered to be ships posing a potential hazard to shipping or a threat to maritime safety, the safety of individuals or the environment:
(a) ships which, in the course of their voyage:
- have been involved in incidents or accidents at sea as referred to in Article 17; or
- have failed to comply with the notification and reporting requirements imposed by this Directive; or
- have failed to comply with the applicable rules in ships' routing systems and VTS placed under the responsibility of a Member State;
(b) ships in respect of which there is proof or presumptive evidence of deliberate discharges of oil or other infringements of the MARPOL Convention in waters under the jurisdiction of a Member State;
(c) ships which have been refused access to ports of the Member States or which have been the subject of a report or notification by a Member State in accordance with Annex I-1 to Council Directive 95/21/EC of 19 June 1995 on port State control of shipping(9).
2. Coastal stations holding relevant information on the ships referred to in paragraph 1 shall communicate it to the coastal stations concerned in the other Member States located along the planned route of the ship.
3. Member States shall ensure that the information communicated to them under paragraph 2 is transmitted to the relevant port authorities and/or any other authority designated by the Member State. Within the limits of their available staff capacity, Member States shall carry out any appropriate inspection or verification in their ports either on their own initiative or at the request of another Member State, without prejudice to any port State control obligation. They shall inform all Member States concerned of the results of the action they take.
Reporting of incidents and accidents at sea
1. Without prejudice to international law and with a view to preventing or mitigating any significant threat to maritime safety, the safety of individuals or the environment, Member States shall monitor and take all appropriate measures to ensure that the master of a ship sailing within their search and rescue region/exclusive economic zone or equivalent, immediately reports to the coastal station responsible for that geographical area:
(a) any incident or accident affecting the safety of the ship, such as collision, running aground, damage, malfunction or breakdown, flooding or shifting of cargo, any defects in the hull or structural failure;
(b) any incident or accident which compromises shipping safety, such as failures likely to affect the ship's manoeuvrability or seaworthiness, or any defects affecting the propulsion system or steering gear, the electrical generating system, navigation equipment or communications equipment;
(c) any situation liable to lead to pollution of the waters or shore of a Member State, such as the discharge or threat of discharge of polluting products into the sea;
(d) any slick of polluting materials and containers or packages seen drifting at sea.
2. The report message sent in application of paragraph 1 shall include at least the ship's identity, its position, the port of departure, the port of destination, the address from which information may be obtained on the dangerous and polluting goods carried on board, the number of persons aboard, details of the incident and any relevant information referred to in IMO Resolution A.851(20).
Measures in the event of exceptionally bad weather
1. Where the competent authorities designated by Member States consider, in the event of exceptionally bad weather or sea conditions, that there is a serious threat of pollution of their shipping areas or coastal zones, or of the shipping areas or coastal zones of other States, or that the safety of human life is in danger:
(a) they should, where possible, fully inform the master of a ship which is in the port area concerned, and intends to enter or leave that port, of the sea state and weather conditions and, when relevant and possible, of the danger they may present to his/her ship, the cargo, the crew and the passengers;
(b) they may take, without prejudice to the duty of assistance to ships in distress and in accordance with Article 20, any other appropriate measures, which may include a recommendation or a prohibition either for a particular ship or for ships in general to enter or leave the port in the areas affected, until it has been established that there is no longer a risk to human life and/or to the environment;
(c) they shall take appropriate measures to limit as much as possible or, if necessary, prohibit the bunkering of ships in their territorial waters.
2. The master shall inform the company of the appropriate measures or recommendations referred to under paragraph 1. These do not however prejudice the decision of the master on the basis of his/her professional judgement corresponding to the SOLAS Convention. Where the decision taken by the master of the ship is not in accordance with the measures referred to under paragraph 1, he/she shall inform the competent authorities of the reasons for his/her decision.
3. The appropriate measures or recommendations, referred to under paragraph 1, shall be based upon a sea state and weather forecast provided by a qualified meteorological information service recognised by the Member State.
Measures relating to incidents or accidents at sea
1. In the event of incidents or accidents at sea as referred to in Article 17, Member States shall take all appropriate measures consistent with international law, where necessary to ensure the safety of shipping and of persons and to protect the marine and coastal environment.
Annex IV sets out a non-exhaustive list of measures available to Member States pursuant to this Article.
2. The operator, the master of the ship and the owner of the dangerous or polluting goods carried on board must, in accordance with national and international law, cooperate fully with the competent national authorities, at the latter's request, with a view to minimising the consequences of an incident or accident at sea.
3. The master of a ship to which the provisions of the ISM Code are applicable shall, in accordance with that Code, inform the company of any incident or accident, as referred to in Article 17(1), which occurs at sea. As soon as it has been informed of such a situation, the company must contact the competent coastal station and place itself at its disposal as necessary.
Places of refuge
Member States, having consulted the parties concerned, shall draw up, taking into account relevant guidelines by IMO, plans to accommodate, in the waters under their jurisdiction, ships in distress. Such plans shall contain the necessary arrangements and procedures taking into account operational and environmental constraints, to ensure that ships in distress may immediately go to a place of refuge subject to authorisation by the competent authority. Where the Member State considers it necessary and feasible, the plans must contain arrangements for the provision of adequate means and facilities for assistance, salvage and pollution response.
Plans for accommodating ships in distress shall be made available upon demand. Member States shall inform the Commission by 5 February 2004 of the measures taken in application of the first paragraph.
Information of the parties concerned
1. The competent coastal station of the Member State concerned shall, as necessary, broadcast within the relevant areas any incident or accident notified under Article 17(1) and information with regard to any ship that poses a threat to maritime safety, the safety of individuals or the environment.
2. Competent authorities holding information notified in accordance with Articles 13 and 17 shall make adequate arrangements to provide such information at any time upon request for safety reasons by the competent authority of another Member State.
3. Any Member State the competent authorities of which have been informed, pursuant to this Directive or in some other way, of facts which involve or increase the risk for another Member State of a hazard being posed to certain shipping areas and coastal zones, shall take the appropriate measures to inform any interested Member State thereof as soon as possible and consult it regarding the action being envisaged. Where appropriate, Member States shall cooperate with a view to pooling the arrangements for joint action.
Each Member State shall make the necessary arrangements to use fully the reports which ships are required to transmit to them pursuant to Article 17.
TITLE IV
ACCOMPANYING MEASURES
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
