The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted its report relating to a Directive of the European Parliament and Council amending Directive 2008/106/EC defining the minimum level of training for seafarers.
The committee recommends that the European Parliament's position, adopted at first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure, should be to amend the Commission proposal as follows:
Definitions: a "passenger ship" means a ship as defined in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended. A "seagoing service" means service on board a ship relevant to the issue or revalidation of a certificate of competency, certificate of proficiency or other qualification. Moreover, the definition of "electro-technical rating" is introduced.
Medical fitness: an amendment clarifies that this can only be ascertained with reference to the specific duties to be performed.
Rule I/8 of the International Convention on the Standards of Training, Certification & Watchkeeping (STCW Convention): members underline that the relevant sections of Part A of the STCW Code apply.
Quality standards and systems of quality standards: these should be developed and implemented taking into account, where applicable, the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 on the establishment of a European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training and related measures adopted by the Member States.
Medical standards: the guidance given in section B-I/9 of the STCW Code should also be taken into account when establishing medical standards.
Multilingualism: Members consider it essential that amendments to national and international rules on the safety of human life at sea and the protection of the marine environment are understood by all members of the crew, whatever their nationality and mother tongue. Reference should accordingly be made to the principle of multilingualism established in the Directive.
Company responsibilities: companies must be able to guarantee that officers and crew have the necessary skills to operate the vessel under normal circumstances and in emergency situations.
Fitness for duty: Members consider that the requirements for rest periods need to be maintained also in the case of drill.
Exceptions to the required hours of rest provided for in paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article for seafarers who are assigned duty as officer in charge of a watch or as rating forming part of a watch or those whose duties involve designated safety, prevention of pollution and security duties may be allowed in accordance with Directive 1999/63/EC, which implements an agreement between European social partners.
Statistical data: the proposed amendments aim to:
· reinforce the obligation on the Commission to use the data provided by Member States solely for the purpose of statistical analysis and in accordance with the data protection requirements of the Union;
· statistics elaborated should be publicly available;
· reinforces the need for data to be provided in an anonymised format, safeguarding data protection in the collection of statistics on the seafarer profession.
Delegated acts: one amendment concerns bringing the legislative text up to date with the revised comitology provisions introduced in light of the Lisbon Treaty. Members propose new wording in order to better reflect the 2011 inter-institutional common understanding on delegated acts.