The common position corresponded largely to the Commission proposal. The document includes
the substance of some of the amendments proposed by the European Parliament and introduces
several additional provisions. The main Parliament amendments taken over by the Council sought
to:
- introduce the principle according to which, and in addition to the provisions in the Directive,
passenger ships should comply with existing national safety requirements and to specific local
conditions;
- guarantee that the host State was granted a more active role when existing passenger ships of
Classes C and D sailing under the flag of another Member State had to undertake national trips
through the territory of the host State;
- change the name of the certificate from 'document of compliance' to 'Passenger Ship Safety
Certificate';
- change the date of the entry into force of certain requirements from 1 October 1997 to 1 October
2000, so as to take into account the time needed by the industrial sector to carry out the main
alterations to existing passenger ships;
- introduce a provision on the difficulties that could be caused by the implementation of the technical
systems in Annex I to existing small passenger ships.
The Council also introduced new provisions on the following:
- purpose of the directive: the text emphasized that the Community could not determine unilateral
international rules but should work within the framework of the competent international
organizations;
- definitions: in the definitions of 'a new ship' and 'an existing ship', all references to high speed
passenger craft were removed;
- scope: the common position excluded from the Directive's scope: existing small passenger ships
less than 24 metres in length; vessels constructed in a material other than steel or its equivalent and
not covered by the standards concerning High Speed Craft or Dynamically Supported Craft;
- application: the provisions defining expanded inspection laid down in the Port State Control
Directive would become fully applicable to domestic passenger ships or craft;
- safety requirements: the Council replaced the dates for the application of the relevant requirements
for existing passenger ships with a more detailed timetable with a view to ensuring that older
passenger ships complied with the provisions in the Directive before more recent ships. Moreover,
the document stated that, in principle, all craft should meet the requirements of the High Speed Craft
Code (HSC Code) but that certain craft built before certain dates could continue operation provided
they met the requirements of the Code of Safety for Dynamically Supported Craft (DSC Code);
- additional safety requirements: the common position allowed a group of Member States to adopt
additional safety requirements justified by specific local conditions; new provisions allowed Member
States to take safeguard measures;
- surveys: the Council added to the parties which could carry out surveys on behalf of the
Administration of the flag State, the Administration of a Member State if it had been authorized by
the flag State to do so;
- certificates: the document aimed to provide a more active role for the host State when high speed
passenger craft were to be engaged on domestic voyages in such a host State;
- commitology: the Council requested that this be adopted in accordance with the IIIa procedure;
- Annex I: many amendments proposed the inclusion of additional requirements with a view to
enhancing the overall safety level of the original proposal.
An annex to the common position contained draft declarations to be recorded in the minutes of the
meeting of the Council at which the Directive would be adopted.
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