EU-høring om evaluering av Det europeiske sjøsikkerhetsbyrå (EMSA)

EU-høring om evaluering av Det europeiske sjøsikkerhetsbyrå (EMSA)

Public consultation on the evaluation of the European Maritime Safety Agency including its pollution response services

Åpen konsultasjon igangsatt av Kommisjonen 27.7.2017

Nærmere omtale

BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsforordningen, engelsk utgave)

Consultation period

27/07/2017- 02/11/2017

Target group

All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation. The consultation can be of particular interest to passengers travelling by sea, national maritime authorities, shipowners, port and terminal operators, seafarers and their organisations, trade unions, maritime related European associations, environmental non-governmental organisations, academia, third country Flag States, classification societies and other actors involved in maritime transport such as ships agents, pilots, VTS operators, etc.

Introduction

In the aftermath of the "Erika" tanker accident and the resulting oil spill, the European Commission proposed to set up a European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The Agency was established in 2002 by Regulation (EC) 1406/2002 and had its mandate extended over the years. Based in Lisbon, EMSA today provides technical, operational and scientific assistance to the European Commission and the Member States in the fields of maritime safety, maritime security, prevention of, and response, to pollution caused by ships as well as response to pollution caused by oil and gas installations.

Its assistance is particularly relevant in the continuous process of updating and developing new legislation, monitoring its implementation and evaluating the effectiveness of the measures in place. EMSA carries out regular visits to maritime administrations and inspects classification societies and as well as third countries' systems for training and certification of seafarers. The Agency also assists EU neighbouring countries to extend know-how and capabilities. Furthermore EMSA assists Member States affected by pollution caused by ships and oil and gas installations with specialised ships and equipment and satellite images to detect pollution.

A key area under constant development and of increasing added value is EMSA maritime monitoring and information activities. The European Commission is promoting a greater use of EMSA assistance for developing technical solutions for simplified reporting formalities for shipping and interoperable IT solutions like the Single Window and the e-Manifest. The Integrated Maritime Services, building on ship reporting systems and other surveillance tools, are extending digital solutions to all end-users with a legitimate interest and EU bodies, serving priority political areas such as security and the migration situation. A challenge for the future is to assist more national authorities involved in Coast Guard functions for enhanced cross-sector and cross-border concerted action in cooperation with other competent agencies.

More information on EMSA

Objectives of the consultation

This public consultation has been launched to collect views and opinions on the performance of EMSA and to gather factual information on what works well and where there is room for improvement.

The questionnaire is built in a way to allow the non-initiated audience to voice their views on the relevance, effectiveness, added-value and impact of EMSA activities in general. The results of the public consultation will feed into the Commission's analysis which will also be based on the external evaluation of EMSA mandate and work commissioned by the Administrative Board of the Agency.

A more detailed sub-section is dedicated to the specific pollution response services of the Agency which the Commission is evaluating separately given the dedicated multiannual budget allocated to EMSA.

Respondents are welcome to expand on their answers in the text boxes foreseen for this purpose. At the end of the questionnaire, it is also possible to upload supporting documents (e.g. position papers, statistics) to complement the contribution.