OBJECTIVE: To guarantee an equivalent and harmonized level of safety for passenger ships in
international traffic from and to European Union ports.
SUBSTANCE: The proposal for a Council directive provides for the application, with adaptations,
of the provisions of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention to passenger ships from the
Member States. It set common safety standards for passenger ships making national voyages,
whatever flag they are flying, divided up into classes according to the various sea areas in which they
operate. These common safety standards relate essentially to construction (compartmentalization and
stability, machinery and electrical appliances), fire protection and rescue equipment.
The following sets of provisions as proposed:
- a first set of provisions aimed at dividing passenger ships into classes according to the sea area
in which they operate;
- a second set of measures aimed at establishing the general safety conditions applicable to the
various classes of passenger ship (detailed requirements),
- a third set of measures concerning additional safety provisions, equivalences and exemptions;
- a fourth set of provisions concerning surveys and the issuing of certificates allowing the
authorized bodies to carry out surveys and certify that a ship is seaworthy. A declaration of
compliance will be issued to ships which comply with the directive.
Finally, the directive sets out the negotiating procedures, in the context of the IMO, for the
harmonization of international safety standards applicable to passenger ships operating in
international traffic, and the granting of exemptions to ships carrying out short international
crossings or voyages in sheltered areas.
�