Inland waterway vessels: technical requirements

2013/0302(COD)

The Commission can endorse the position adopted by the Council, thus enabling the European Parliament to adopt the final text at second reading. It noted that, overall, the form of the text has changed considerably, while the substance of the original Commission proposal on navigation safety has been preserved. The Commission welcomed these improvements.

The Commission stated that most of the Council's amendments are designed to improve clarity and the implementation of the Directive. The main changes in the Council position are:

  • reorganising the thematic chapters, thereby improving clarity. At the Commission's request, the Council has agreed not to change the technical requirements in the annexes in such a way that they refer to the CESNI standard adopted in the course of the discussions held in the Council in November 2015;
  • transferring detailed procedural issues from Annex II to the main body of the Directive, in addition to those already transferred in the Commission's proposal;
  • updating the classification of inland waterways in Annex I. Sweden has inserted its classification, thus bringing its inland waterways within the scope of the Directive;
  • modifying Article 30, listing the Member States that are excluded from the scope of the Directive because they have no inland waterways or because inland navigation is not used to a significant extent. The other Member States are covered by the Directive;
  • strengthening the provisions on data protection in relation to the European Hull Database, in line with the opinion of the European Supervisor for Data Protection (EDPS), who was consulted by the Commission at the Council's request. Moreover, the Commission has been empowered to adopt rules on the functioning of the database by delegated acts;
  • deleting the minor legal discrepancy with Directive 2009/100/EC, resulting in an overlap in the scope of application, has been removed by amending Directive 2009/100/EC.