The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the interim
report by Pavel SVOBODA (EPP, CZ) on the draft Council decision
on the ratification and accession by Member States, in the interest
of the European Union, to the Protocol of 2010 to the International
Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection
with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, with
regard to the aspects related to judicial cooperation in civil
matters.
Parliament received a letter requesting it to give its
consent to the draft Council decision on the ratification and
accession by Member States on behalf of the Union to the 2010
Protocol to the HNS Convention on 17 December 2015.
With this interim report, Members seek to ensure that
the Parliament works towards a positive outcome with the Council
and the Commission on this issue.
The committee asked the Council and the Commission to
take into account the following recommendations:
- ensure that the uniformity, integrity and
effectiveness of common Union rules will not be adversely
affected by the international commitments undertaken by the
ratification of or accession to the 2010 HNS
Convention;
- pay greater attention in this regard to the
overlap between the recast
of Brussels I Regulation and the 2010 HNS Convention in so far
as rules of procedure applicable to claims and actions under the
said Convention before courts of state parties are
concerned;
- ensure that the possibility for a conflict
between the Directive
on environmental liability and the 2010 HNS
Convention;
- ensure that the risk is diminished of creating
and consolidating a competitive disadvantage for the states that
are ready to accede to the 2010 HNS Convention;
- ensure the removal of the permanent
co-existence of two maritime liability regimes - a Union-based
one and an international one;
- ensure that a clear obligation is imposed on
Member States to take all necessary steps to achieve a concrete
result, namely to ratify or accede to the 2010 HNS Convention
within a reasonable timeframe, which should be no longer than two
years from the date of entry into force of the Council
decision.