Maritime safety: ship inspections and survey organisations, package Erika I

The committee adopted the recommendation for second reading (codecision procedure) by Josu ORTUONDO LARREA (Greens/EFA, E) amending the Council's common position. In order to avoid a conciliation procedure, which would delay the entry into force of the directive, the committee was keen to achieve a compromise on the major point of disagreement between Parliament and Council, namely the question of the financial liability of classification societies, in particular in the event of accidents caused to a greater or lesser extent by negligence or omission on the part of organisations in the course of their inspections. It therefore proposed setting upper and lower limits for compensation, within which each Member State would set the financial liability of organisations operating within its own sphere of jurisdiction. It argued that this would enable Community compensation rules to be harmonised to a substantial degree, while ensuring that all these organisations were financially accountable for the standard of their work. The committee accordingly amended the relevant article (in which the Council had proposed minimum amounts of EUR 5m for personal injury or death and EUR 2.5m for damage to property) and proposed a lower limit of EUR 4m and an upper limit of EUR 7m for injury or death, and a minimum of EUR 2m and a maximum of EUR 4m for damage to property. The committee also reinstated a first reading amendment requiring periodic consultations between the recognised organisations in order to adjust their standards and the implementation thereof to bring them into line with the latest IMO guidelines.�