Abstract
The chapter applies the book’s theoretical lens to maritime safety authorities. The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) inspects the regulatory practices of national regulators and provides training for national officials. This has the potential to build regulatory capacity to manage cross-border risks by ensuring that no national authority creates regulatory loopholes through lax inspection practices. While EMSA’s inspections help UK and German authorities to handle one key regulatory challenge they face (lax port state control inspections by other regulators), they are highly sceptical about EMSA’s, and the EU’s, ability to contribute to the second core challenge they perceive: the maintenance of an international maritime safety regime. As a result, capacity building through mutual exchange is restrained due to a lack of proactive support of high capacity national regulators. Capacity building instead rests on EMSA inspections and infringement proceedings.
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Notes
- 1.
Originally established under Council Directive 95/21/EC of 19 June 1995 concerning the enforcement, in respect of shipping using Community ports and sailing in the waters under the jurisdiction of the Member States, of international standards for ship safety, pollution prevention and shipboard living and working conditions (port State control). This has been amended several times since. The current port state control regime is regulated under Directive 2009/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on port State control.
- 2.
See Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a European Maritime Safety Agency.
- 3.
Recital (1), Art.1(1), Regulation 1406/2002.
- 4.
Ibid., Art.11(1).
- 5.
Ibid., Art.15, Art. 16(1).
- 6.
Ibid., Art.1(2).
- 7.
Ibid., Art.1(2), Art.2(b).
- 8.
Ibid., Art.2(c)(i).
- 9.
Ibid., Art.2(d)(ii).
- 10.
Ibid., Art.2(c)(i).
- 11.
Article 2(b), Regulation 1406/2002.
- 12.
Art.2(b)(i), Art.3, Regulation 1406/2002.
- 13.
The visits policy is laid down in Decision 25/06/2004 of EMSA’s Administrative Board.
- 14.
Art.3(3), Regulation (EC), No 1406/2002.
- 15.
See Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations; and Directive 2009/15/EC on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations.
- 16.
See Directive 2009/16/EC on port state control.
- 17.
See Directive 2000/59/EC on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues.
- 18.
Recital (3), Regulation 1406/2002.
- 19.
Recital 5, Regulation 1406/2002.
- 20.
Interviewees also regularly referred to the UK’s influence as experienced host nation.
- 21.
The industry and national officials of some regulators usually argue in favour of IMO rules—as opposed to European rules going further than the international ones—arguing that a global industry needs global regulation. For a counter view to this (see Ringbom 2008, pp. 7–14).
- 22.
This was confirmed by all interviewees.
- 23.
Interviewee M1.
- 24.
Interviewee M10.
- 25.
Interviewee, M6.
- 26.
Interviewee M9.
- 27.
Interviewee M4.
- 28.
Interviewee M3.
- 29.
Interviewee M1.
- 30.
Interviewee M10.
- 31.
These two factors go hand-in-hand in the perception of the UK and German authorities since being flag states allows them to enforce maritime safety standards vigorously when ships flying their flag are concerned.
- 32.
CleanSeaNet supplements monitoring systems at the national and regional level, which were in place before its inception. For example, members of HELCOM operate aerial surveillance in cooperation, thereby flying over heavy traffic routes at least twice per week and once per week in areas of sporadic traffic. The Bonn Agreement operates a similar arrangement. This service now cooperates with EMSA’s CleanSeaNet facility.
- 33.
Confirmed in interviews with German and British officials.
- 34.
Also see Paris MoU, Code of Good Practice for Port State Control Officers, Annex I, Rule 1.
- 35.
See Paris MoU text, especially Section 3 and Annex I.
- 36.
Art.22(1) and Annex XI of Directive 2009/16.
- 37.
The empirical analysis presented in this paper was supported by the following interviews:
-
Interviewee M1, official of the Dienststelle Schiffssicherheit (Ship Safety Division). Interviews conducted on 26 September, 2012, and 19 December, 2012.
-
Interviewee M2, former official of EMSA, official of the Maritime Directorate of Luxembourg. Interview conducted on 31 October, 2012.
-
Interviewee M3, official of EMSA, former national representative to the IMO and official of the MCA. Interview conducted on 28 November, 2012.
-
Interviewee M4, former official of EMSA and the European Commission (then DG TREN), expert in maritime law. Interview conducted on 29 November, 2012.
-
Interviewee M5, official at the UK Department of Transport and representative to EMSA. Interview conducted on 30 November, 2012.
-
Interviewee M6, official of the European Commission (DG MOVE) and representative to EMSA. Interview conducted on 7 December, 2012.
-
Interviewee M7, former official of EMSA (Administrative Board), former official at the UK Department of Transport. Interview conducted on 12 December, 2012.
-
Interviewee M8, official of the Dienststelle Schiffssicherheit (Ship Safety Division). Interview conducted on 19 December, 2012.
-
Interviewee M9, port state control inspector of Dienststelle Schiffssicherheit (Ship Safety Division). Interview conducted on 19 December, 2012. The author also accompanied the inspector on a six hour port state control inspection in the port of Bremen on 19 December, 2012.
-
Interviewee M10, official of the MCA. Interview conducted on 10 January, 2013.
-
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Heims, E. (2019). Building EU Maritime Safety Regulatory Capacity. In: Building EU Regulatory Capacity. Executive Politics and Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97577-1_4
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