Horizontal technical assistance
1. The Agency shall assist the Commission:
(a)
in monitoring the effective implementation of relevant binding Union legal acts falling under the objectives of the Agency, in particular by carrying out visits and inspections as referred to in Article 10;
(b)
in the preparatory work for updating and developing relevant Union legal acts falling under the objectives of the Agency, in particular in accordance with the development of relevant international law;
(c)
in the performance of any other task assigned to the Commission in Union legislative acts falling under the objectives of the Agency.
For the purposes of the first subparagraph, point (a), the Agency may suggest improvements to the Commission.
2. The Agency shall cooperate with the Member States to:
(a)
organise, where appropriate, relevant capacity-building and training activities in fields which fall under the objectives of the Agency and are the responsibility of the Member States;
(b)
develop technical solutions, including the provision of relevant operational services, and provide technical assistance in order to build up the necessary national capacity for the implementation of Union legal acts falling under the objectives of the Agency.
For the purposes of the first subparagraph, point (a), of this paragraph, the Agency shall establish appropriate capabilities with the aim of developing, implementing and coordinating training activities related to the objectives of the Agency. The training activities provided shall be developed in close consultation with the Member States and the Commission, and approved by the Management Board in accordance with Article 17 of this Regulation, while fully respecting Article 166 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
3. The Agency shall promote and facilitate cooperation between Member States and between Member States and the Commission in the implementation of the Union legal acts by promoting the exchange and dissemination of experiences and good practices.
4. The Agency shall contribute, at the Commission’s request, or on its own initiative, subject to prior approval of the Management Board in accordance with Article 17, to maritime research activities at the Union level when needed to fulfil the objectives of the Agency. In that regard, the Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in identifying key research themes, without prejudice to other research activities at Union level, and in analysing ongoing and completed research projects relevant to the objectives of the Agency. Where appropriate, subject to the applicable rules on intellectual property and security considerations, the Agency shall disseminate the results of its research and innovation activities, following approval by the Commission, as part of its contribution to creating synergies between the research and innovation activities of other Union bodies and the Member States.
5. Where required for the implementation of its tasks, the Agency may undertake studies, involving the Commission and where applicable, through consultation of steering groups, the Member States, and, where appropriate, the social partners and industry representatives with expertise in the relevant topics.
6. On the basis of research and studies conducted by the Agency and of experience gained through its own activities, in particular the visits and inspections, and exchange of information and good practices with the Member States and the Commission, the Agency may provide, in agreement with the Commission and the Management Board, relevant non-binding recommendations, guidance or manuals to support Member States, and where appropriate the industry, in the implementation of relevant Union legal acts.
Tasks relating to maritime safety
1. The Agency shall monitor progress on the safety of maritime transport in the Union, conduct risk analyses on the basis of the available data and develop safety risk assessment models to identify safety challenges and risks. Every three years, the Agency shall present to the Commission a report on progress on maritime safety with possible technical recommendations that could be addressed at Union or international level, in particular in relation to potential safety risks stemming from the development, uptake and deployment of sustainable alternative sources of power for ships, including zero-emission technologies and on-shore power supply as defined in Regulation (EU) 2023/1805.
2. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Directive 2009/21/EC. In particular, the Agency shall assist the Commission in organising, where appropriate and based on Member States’ requests for assistance, relevant training activities for flag State inspectors and flag State surveyors as referred to in Article 4c of that Directive. The Agency shall also assist the Commission in developing, maintaining and updating a digital interoperable portal in accordance with Article 6 of that Directive, as well as the ship information database in accordance with Article 6a of that Directive, and in establishing the electronic reporting tool referred to in Article 9b of that Directive and may provide the Commission with recommendations on the basis of the data thereby collected.
The Agency shall assist the Commission in developing relevant tools and services to assist the Member States, upon their request, to fulfil their obligations pursuant to Directive 2009/21/EC.
3. The Agency shall assist the Commission in the development, maintenance and update of the inspection database provided for in Article 24 of Directive 2009/16/EC and shall develop, maintain and update the validation tool provided for in Article 24a of that Directive and support Member States. On the basis of the data collected in that database, the Agency shall assist the Commission in the analysis of the relevant information and the publication of information concerning ships and companies with low and very low performance pursuant to Directive 2009/16/EC.
The Agency shall provide relevant tools and services to assist the Member States, upon their request, to fulfil their obligations pursuant to Directive 2009/16/EC.
The Agency shall also assist the Commission in developing a professional training programme for port State control inspectors of the Member States, in cooperation with Member States and as agreed within the Paris MoU, as provided for in Article 22(7) of Directive 2009/16/EC.
4. The Agency shall assist the Commission in the development and maintenance of the European database for marine casualties provided for in Article 17 of Directive 2009/18/EC. On the basis of the data collected in that database, the Agency shall compile a yearly overview of marine casualties and incidents. The Agency shall, at the request of the marine safety investigation authorities of the Member States concerned, and assuming that no conflict of interest arises, provide operational support to those Member States in the conduct of their marine safety investigations. The Agency shall also carry out an analysis of marine safety investigation reports provided for in Directive 2009/18/EC with a view to identifying added value at Union level in terms of any relevant lessons to be drawn.
The Agency shall provide regular training according to the needs of the marine safety investigation authorities of the Member States.
5. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Council Directive 98/41/EC ( 23 ) and of Directives 2003/25/EC ( 24 ) and 2009/45/EC ( 25 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council. The Agency shall assist the Commission, in particular, in establishing and maintaining a database of measures provided for in Article 9(4), seventh subparagraph, of Directive 2009/45/EC and Article 9(3), point (a), of Directive 98/41/EC and assist the Commission in the assessment of such measures.
6. The Agency shall facilitate the cooperation and the exchange of information between the Commission and the Member States for the assessment of the recognised organisations that carry out survey and certification tasks in accordance with Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 391/2009. In particular, the Agency shall:
(a)
provide the Commission with an opinion on its assessment of the recognised organisations under Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 391/2009;
(b)
provide the Member States with appropriate information in the context of the visits and inspections conducted by the Agency to support the Commission’s assessment under Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 in order to support the monitoring of recognised organisations in accordance with Article 9 of Directive 2009/15/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 26 ) in support of the Member States in the discharge of their Union and international obligations as flag States;
(c)
provide the Commission with technical assistance on possible remedial measures or the imposition of fines to the recognised organisations in accordance with Articles 5 and 6 of Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 and the corresponding advance notice requirements.
For the purposes of the first subparagraph, point (b), of this paragraph, the Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Article 9a of Directive 2009/21/EC.
7. The Agency shall assist the Commission in the implementation of Directive 2014/90/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 27 ) by providing its technical assessment on safety and environmental aspects, providing recommendations with lists of the respective design, construction and performance requirements and testing standards, and shall assist the Commission in setting up and maintaining the database provided for in Article 35(4) of that Directive and facilitating cooperation between notified assessment bodies, acting as the technical secretariat for their coordination group.
8. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the identification of safety risks related to the development of technologies with advanced automation.
9. The Agency shall analyse statistics on seafarers provided and used in accordance with Directive (EU) 2022/993 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 28 ) . It may also, upon request of the Management Board, analyse statistics on the MLC 2006-related deficiencies identified during port State control inspections carried out under Directive 2009/16/EC with the aim of assisting in the improvement of the on-board working and living conditions of seafarers.
10. After prior approval by the Management Board, the Agency may assist the Commission and the Member States in emerging areas related to maritime safety, as appropriate and without prejudice to the competences of Member States in those areas.
Tasks relating to environmental sustainability
1. The Agency shall, in a cost-efficient way, support the Member States with additional pollution response operational means, including those to be developed for sustainable alternative fuels, for pollution caused by ships and for marine pollution caused by oil and gas installations.
The Agency shall provide such support on request of the Member State concerned under the authority of which the cleaning operations are conducted. Such support shall be without prejudice to the responsibility of coastal States to have appropriate pollution response mechanisms in place and shall respect existing cooperation between Member States in this field.
The operational means that the Agency provides to the Member States shall take into account and make provision for the transition of the sector to the use of sustainable alternative sources of power for ships. Where appropriate, requests for mobilisation of anti-pollution actions shall be relayed through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism established by Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 29 ) (‘the Union Civil Protection Mechanism’).
2. The Agency shall prepare and update a risk assessment for all EU sea basins which shall serve as a basis for the location of the Agency’s oil and chemical pollution response vessels for supporting the Member States in marine environment pollution response activities.
3. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States with the detection of possible pollution and the pursuit of ships making illegal discharges, in accordance with Directive 2005/35/EC. The Agency shall in particular assist with the implementation of Articles 10 to 10d of that Directive by:
(a)
developing and maintaining the European satellite-based pollution detection service (CleanSeaNet), as part of the SafeSeaNet, and other reporting mechanisms and systems;
(b)
collecting, analysing and disseminating the relevant information on the implementation of, and enforcement pursuant to, Directive2005/35/EC;
(c)
providing capacity building to the competent national authorities and facilitating the exchange of best practices between them;
(d)
developing and maintaining the online external reporting channel for receiving and handling information on potential illegal discharges communicated by the crew, and relaying such information to the Member State or Member States concerned, while ensuring the necessary protection of persons who report potential infringements and of their personal data.
4. The Agency shall cooperate with other Union agencies, such as European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), established by Regulation (EU) 2019/473, in line with the working arrangement referred to in Article 12(2) of this Regulation.
5. The Agency shall provide the CleanSeaNet service and any other tools to assist the Commission and the Member States, upon the request of the Commission or a Member State, to monitor the extent and environmental impact of marine oil pollution caused by oil and gas installations.
6. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/883, including the development, maintenance and update of the inspection database provided for in Article 14 of that Directive.
7. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Directive 2008/56/EC, by contributing to the objective of achieving or maintaining good environmental status of marine waters as defined in that Directive with shipping-related elements of Directive 2008/56/EC and in making use of existing tools such as the Integrated Maritime Services provided by the Agency.
8. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States, upon the request of the Commission or a Member State, including with operational tools and services, in the implementation of the shipping-related elements of Directive (EU) 2016/802. In that respect, the Agency shall also maintain the relevant inspection database to assist Member States in assessing the risk of ships’ non-compliance with that Directive.
9. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 30 ) through the collection and analysis of data on compliance with that Regulation.
10. After prior approval by the Management Board, the Agency may support the Commission and the Member States in emerging areas related to environmental sustainability, as appropriate and without prejudice to the competences of Member States in those areas.
11. Every three years, the Agency shall present to the Commission a report on the progress made in reducing the environmental impact of maritime transport at the Union level.
Tasks relating to decarbonisation
1. The Agency shall provide technical assistance to the Commission and the Member States, upon the request of the Commission or a Member State, in relation to operational and technical measures as well as regulatory efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships. In that regard, the Agency may utilise any relevant operational tools or services. The Agency shall in particular research, analyse and propose to the Commission, after prior consultation of the Member States, relevant guidance or recommendations in relation to the uptake and deployment of sustainable alternative fuels, energy and power systems for ships, such as zero-emission technologies, on-shore power supply or wind-assisted propulsion, as defined in Regulation (EU) 2023/1805, or solar-assisted propulsion, as well as in relation to energy efficiency measures, such as speed optimisation.
2. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2023/1805. In particular, the Agency shall assist the Commission with the development and maintenance of the FuelEU database, established by Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1805, and other relevant IT tools as referred to in Article 19 of that Regulation, in the development of the appropriate monitoring tools, guidance and risk-based targeting tools provided for, in particular, in Article 18 of that Regulation, to facilitate implementation, verification and enforcement activities, as well as with the analysis of the relevant data and the preparation of the reporting under Article 30 of that Regulation.
3. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2015/757. In particular, the Agency shall assist the Commission with the development, update and maintenance of relevant IT tools, databases and guidance for the purpose of implementing that Regulation and facilitating enforcement activities, assist the Commission with the analysis of relevant data reported under that Regulation, and support the Commission in its activities to comply with the obligations pursuant to Article 21 of that Regulation.
4. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the implementation of Directive 2003/87/EC in relation to the maritime sector. In particular, the Agency shall assist the Commission with the development of the appropriate IT implementation tools, monitoring tools, guidance and risk-based targeting tools to facilitate verification, enforcement and implementation activities related to that Directive as regards the maritime sector, while making use of existing relevant tools, services and databases.
5. The assistance referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 shall also include monitoring and reporting on potential impacts on port traffic, port evasion and traffic shift to the neighbouring container transhipment ports to the detriment of Union ports.
6. Every three years, the Agency shall present to the Commission a report on the progress made in achieving the decarbonisation of maritime transport at the Union level. Where possible, the report shall include technical analysis on identified issues that could be addressed at Union level. The report shall be made publicly available on the Agency’s website in a searchable format.
Tasks relating to maritime security and cybersecurity
1. The Agency shall provide technical assistance to the Commission in the performance of the inspection tasks assigned to it pursuant to Article 9(4) of Regulation (EC) No 725/2004.
2. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States, upon the request of the Commission or a Member State, together with any other relevant Union body, by providing technical guidance and by facilitating the exchange of best practices and information on cyber resilience and cybersecurity incidents between the Member States.
Tasks relating to maritime surveillance and maritime crises
1. The Agency shall provide the Commission and the Member States, upon the request of the Commission or a Member State, with state-of-the-art maritime surveillance and communication services, including space-based and ground infrastructure and sensors mounted on any kind of platform, that improve maritime situational awareness, including with regard to geopolitical challenges.
2. In the field of traffic monitoring covered by Directive 2002/59/EC, the Agency shall in particular promote cooperation between riparian States in the shipping areas concerned, and develop, maintain and operate the long-range identification and tracking of ships (LRIT) European Data Centre as defined in Article 6b and SafeSeaNet as referred to in Article 22a, of that Directive as well as the LRIT International Data Exchange system in accordance with the commitment made within the IMO.
3. The Agency shall provide, upon request and without prejudice to Union law and national law, relevant vessel positioning and Earth observation data to the Commission, to the competent national authorities and relevant Union bodies, within their mandate, in order to facilitate measures against threats of piracy and of intentional unlawful acts as provided for in applicable Union law or under internationally agreed legal instruments in the area of maritime transport, subject to applicable data protection rules and in accordance with administrative procedures as established by Directive 2002/59/EC. The provision of LRIT information shall be subject to the consent of the flag State concerned.
4. The Agency shall operate a centre available 24 hours a day and seven days a week providing, upon request and without prejudice to Union law and national law, to the Commission, to the competent national authorities without prejudice to their rights and responsibilities as flag, coastal and port States, and to relevant Union bodies, within their mandate, maritime situational awareness and analytical data, as appropriate, supporting them in:
(a)
safety, security and pollution at sea;
(b)
situations of emergency at sea;
(c)
the implementation of Union legal acts requiring the monitoring of ship movements and hazards to navigation;
(d)
measures against threats of piracy and of other intentional unlawful acts as provided for in applicable Union law or under internationally agreed legal instruments in the area of maritime transport;
(e)
the implementation of the Union restrictive measures adopted under Article 29 of the Treaty on European Union or Article 215 TFEU that fall under the remit of the competences of the Agency.
The provision of such information shall be subject to applicable data protection rules and in accordance with guidelines to be issued by the high-level steering group established in accordance with Directive 2002/59/EC, as appropriate. The provision of LRIT information shall be subject to the consent of the flag State concerned.
5. The Agency shall, within its field of competence, contribute to the timely response to, and mitigation of, crises by assisting, upon request, the Member States and the Commission with the execution of contingency plans and by facilitating the exchange of information and best practices between them.
6. The Agency shall assist the Commission in the operation of the maritime surveillance component of the Copernicus Security Service within the governance and financial framework of the Copernicus programme.
7. The Agency shall assist the Commission and the Member States in the development and maintenance of the voluntary Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE), an interoperability solution, with the aim of facilitating information exchange between different systems used by national civil and military authorities with responsibility in the maritime domain complementing the information already available through the mandatory information systems.
Tasks relating to digitalisation and simplification
1. In the areas of Union law falling within the Agency’s competence, the Agency shall, where appropriate, collect and provide objective, reliable and comparable statistics, information and data, to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of existing measures. Such tasks shall include the facilitation and promotion of electronic certificates, the making use of existing databases, and the use of innovative IT and artificial intelligence tools.
2. The Agency shall assist the Commission in the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2019/1239 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 31 ) with the following tasks:
(a)
to develop and maintain the common IT components and services of the European Maritime Single Window environment (‘EMSWe’), established by Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1239, under the responsibility of the Commission;
(b)
to maintain the EMSWe Data Set, established by Regulation (EU) 2019/1239, the Message Implementation Guide and the templates of the digital spreadsheets;
(c)
to provide non-binding technical guidance to the Member States for the implementation of the EMSWe;
(d)
to facilitate better re-use and sharing of data exchanged in the EMSWe using SafeSeaNet.
3. The Agency shall provide assistance, including training, to the Member States, upon their request and without prejudice to the existing technical solutions for their registries or their rights and obligations as flag States, in the digitalisation of their registries and their procedures facilitating the uptake of electronic certificates and the reduction of administrative burden.
4. When developing IT tools and other technical solutions, the Agency shall always take cybersecurity into account.
Visits to Member States and inspections
1. In order to assist the Commission in fulfilling its duties under the TFEU, and in particular the assessment of the effective implementation of relevant Union law in the areas of maritime safety and the prevention of pollution, the Agency shall carry out visits to Member States, if the Commission delegates such a task to the Agency, in accordance with a methodology established by the Management Board. Such methodology shall involve an integrated approach which aims to verify more than one piece of legislation relevant to the function of flag, port or coastal State of the Member State concerned.
2. The Agency shall inform the Member State concerned, in accordance with the methodology referred to in paragraph 1, of the planned visit, the names of the authorised officials, and the date on which the visit starts and its expected duration. The Agency officials delegated to carry out such visits shall do so on presentation of a decision in writing from the Executive Director of the Agency (‘the Executive Director’) specifying the purpose and the aims of their mission.
3. The Agency may carry out inspections on behalf of the Commission as required by binding Union legal acts, including as regards recognised organisations, and as regards the training and certification of seafarers in third countries in accordance with Directive (EU) 2022/993, if the Commission delegates such a task to the Agency.
4. The Agency may also carry out site inspections of recycling facilities in third countries on behalf of the Commission in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013, if the Commission delegates such a task to the Agency.
5. At the end of each visit or inspection referred to in this Article, the Agency shall draw up a report and send it to the Commission and to the Member State concerned. The report shall follow a template established by the Commission.
6. Where appropriate, and in any case when a cycle of visits or inspections referred to in this Article is concluded, the Agency shall analyse reports from that cycle with a view to identifying horizontal findings and general conclusions on the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of the measures in place. The Agency shall present that analysis to the Commission and the Member States for further discussion in order to draw any relevant lessons and facilitate the dissemination of good working practices.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
