The common position takes, in substance, 11 out of the 18 amendments by the European Parliament, very often in the form suggested in the Commission's amended proposal. The amendments accepted essentially concern the Helsinki Convention, environmentally-friendly ships, the evaluation of the implementation of the Directive, the ships excluded from the field of application, the approval of the waste reception plans, the fees, the inspection and the report of the application of the Waste Water Directive.
The common position contains the following key elements :
- each Community port shall ensure the availability of adequate waste reception facilities for ships normally calling at that port. A description of the needs and the details of the facilities shall be laid down in a waste reception and handling plan, which could take into account the regional context;
- all ships calling at a Community port must deliver their ship-generated waste at that port unless they have enough dedicated storage capacity for the waste to be delivered at a subsequent port;
- the cost of the port reception facilities shall be covered through the collection of fees from ships. The cost recovery system shall not encourage the discharge of waste into the sea. It shall consist of a fixed non-special fee component and, on an optional basis, a variable fee relating to the amount and type of waste actually delivered;
- the Member States shall implement the Directive 24 months after its publication in the Official Journal. They shall provide a proper administrative framework for its enforcement and its monitoring.�