Erhvervsudvalget 2009-10
KOM (2009) 0544
Offentligt
785372_0001.png
7. November 2008
30 Danish proposals for EU simplification
Area of the proposal
Environment
Company Law
Company Law – accountancy
Food safety
Fisheries
Agriculture
Statistics
Financial
Maritime
Total
No of proposals
4
5
2
2
3
3
4
5
2
30
1 Environment
European Waste Shipment Regulation 1013/2006 EC.
Description of simplification proposal
Digitalisation – to develop a standardised interface for exchange of information and documents
listed in article 26 of the Regulation for all Member States instead of the current paper based
administrative procedures.
Reason for simplification
DK proposes that a joint electronic interface for the exchange of data for electronic transposi-
tion between European Member States is developed. This could reduce the administrative bur-
dens for both companies and authorities in the Member States.
2 Environment
Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2000 on
the Incineration of Waste.
Description of simplification proposal
DK wish to put forward two proposals regarding the directive on waste incineration:
1) Exemption from the requirements of continuous measurements on waste incineration plants
and waste co-incineration plants with a nominal capacity of less than 6 tonnes per hour.
The authority may decide not to require continuous measurements for NO
x,
total dust, TOC,
HCl, HF and SO
2
and require periodic measurements or no measurements when the waste
fractions are homogenous and well defined – typically arising in the industry.
2) DK proposes the sampling time for dioxins and furans is proposed to be 30 minutes to 8
hours like for heavy metals. This will make the measurement of dioxin a lot more cost ef-
fective and will not have a negative effect on quality.
This will require a revision of the WI directive (Article 11, para 4 and annex II, para II 2.2 and
annex V, para (d))
The revisions are preferred to be accomplished through an independent fast track procedure in
relation to the waste incineration directive or alternatively in connection to the current revision
of the IPPC-directive. The last option will require a revision of the recast of the IPPC (Annex
VI, part 6, para 2 and annex VI, part 3, para 1.4 and annex VI, part 4, para 4.2).
Reason for simplification
Today the authority can decide not to require continuous measurements for HCl, HF and SO
2
.
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In the proposal of the directive on industrial emissions (IPPC recast) it is proposed that the au-
thority can decide not to require continuous measurements on NO
x
on waste incineration plants
and waste co-incineration plants with a nominal capacity of less than 6 tonnes per hour. DK
wish to propose that the authority also can decide not to require continuous measurements on
total dust and TOC on waste incineration plants and waste co-incineration plants with a nomi-
nal capacity of less than 6 tonnes per hour as well as the continuous measurements of related
waste gas parameters such as O
2
, pressure and temperature. The competent authority may re-
quire periodic measurements or no measurements.
The proposal will reduce the costs for these plants with a nominal capacity of less than 6 ton-
nes per hour considerately. They will save costs for measurements as well as time and costs for
operating the continuous measurement systems.
In the waste incineration directive dioxin average values shall be measured over a sample pe-
riod of minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of 8 hours. Developments in analytical techniques
means that such a long sampling time only occasional are needed.
At the same time, most waste-incineration plants runs with such a steady operation on the di-
oxin cleansing, that the inclusions of variations cannot justify such a long timescale for the
measuring.
The proposal will save time and costs on measurements of dioxin and furans.
3 Environment
Regulation on pesticides (Common Position adopted by the Council no. 11119/08) and regula-
tion on ozone (2037/2000).
Description of simplification proposal
Both regulations constitutes approaching revisions of existing legislation. Danish priorities as
regards to both regulations are to focus on predictability in the permission scheme and focus on
effectiveness in order to avoid duplication of work for the companies.
Mutual recognition of pesticides in order to minimise duplication of work in the Member
States and introduction of simplified procedures for some active substances/ product types (low
risk substances and basic substances).
Reason for simplification
Avoidance of duplication of work for companies and Member States
4 Environment
Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on
waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
Description of simplification proposal
Fewer categories of electronic equipment. Currently there are 10 categories in the directive on
which there is a reporting/information obligation. DK proposes five categories. The categories
should also be more applicable in connection to the actual preparation of the collection of
waste. In this case it would not be necessary for companies and WEEE-system to convert in re-
lation to the collected amount.
Reason for simplification
Fewer categories means less paper work for the companies. Furthermore more coherent catego-
ries are assumed to give companies less frustration.
5 Company Law
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2nd Council Directive 77/91/EEC of 13
th
December 1976
Description of simplification proposal
Article 17 of the 2nd Directive requires the calling of a general meeting whenever a company
has suffered a serious loss of subscribed capital. The main purpose of this provision is to in-
form shareholders of the alarming financial situation of the company on a general meeting and
to decide on the most appropriate measures to be taken.
Micro and small companies could be exempted - or the obligation to call a general meeting
could be replaced by an information obligation at the shareholders’ meeting, thereby leaving it
to the management body to define adequate measures in the meantime.
Reason for simplification
Especially in micro and small companies, which have a limited number of external stake-
holders and in which owners and managers often are the same, this requirement appears of
relatively low value.
6 Company Law
2nd Council Directive 77/91/EEC of 13
th
December 1976
Description of simplification proposal
When the laws of a Member State allow the payment of interim dividends, Article 15 (2) of the
2nd Directive requires that certain conditions are met, among these that interim accounts shall
be drawn up showing that the funds available for distribution are sufficient.
This requirement shall be repealed.
Reason for simplification
In any case the management body is responsible, if the funds available for distribution are not
sufficient.
7 Company Law
2nd Council Directive 77/91/EEC of 13
th
December 1976
Description of simplification proposal
If a company, within a time limit laid down by national law of at least two years from the time
the company is incorporated or is authorized to commence business, acquires any asset belong-
ing to a founder of the company etc. for a consideration of not less than one-tenth of the sub-
scribed capital, Art. 11 of the 2nd Directive requires, that the acquisition shall be examined and
details of it published and it shall be submitted for the approval of the general meeting.
The paragraph shall be repealed.
Reason for simplification
The paragraph creates administrative burdens which are not sufficiently justifiable compared to
the low degree of protection offered by the paragraph (to creditors and minority shareholders).
Anyone who can control a company’s acquisition of an asset on terms that are not fair for the
company can do so regardless of the protection offered by the paragraph. For example they
could make arrangements so to acquire the asset from a person or company or firm different
from those referred to in Article 3 (i), or they could make the acquisition through a shell com-
pany older than two years.
Moreover, in any case the board of directors and others involved in the transaction will be re-
sponsible, if the company incur losses due to the terms of the acquisition. The degree of protec-
tion added by the obligations in the paragraph is doubtful.
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Finally, surprisingly few examinations are received by the authority for publication. It is as-
sumed that some companies, who generally want to comply with the law, do not comply with
this provision, because it is complicated to understand the obligations in the provision.
8 Company Law
3rd Council Directive 78/855/EEC of 9
th
October 1978 and 6
th
Council Directive 82/891/EEC
of 17
th
December 1982.
Description of simplification proposal
The UK believes that both directives should be repealed and if the directives cannot be re-
pealed, they should be simplified further in order to reduce the information obligations that
remain following the Commission’s existing proposal. According to the UK these directives
regulate purely domestic mergers or divisions taking place between companies within the same
Member State and it is therefore unlikely that they would meet the principle of subsidiarity, if
the directives were proposed today. (HM Government, 25 ideas for simplifying EU law, p. 10
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file47148.pdf
)
Reason for simplification
Denmark does not support that the directives shall be repealed, but supports additional simpli-
fications to these directives. Harmonisation of this area to a certain level, increases transpar-
ency and is thereby facilitating companies’ decision making process.
9 Company Law
12th Council Company Law Directive 89/667/EEC of 21st December 1989
Description of simplification proposal
The UK believes there is merit in retaining this directive rather than repealing it completely, as
the Commission’s Communication of 10 July 2007 suggested. However, the UK does agree
that the requirements for the internal operations of one-member companies, including some
other information obligations, are unnecessary and should be repealed. This approach would
mean that the short directive would only include the basic, deregulatory requirement that com-
panies setting up subsidiaries in another Member State do not have to find a second, local
nominee member and may have only one member or shareholder. (HM Government, 25 ideas
for simplifying EU law, p. 10
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file47148.pdf
)
Reason for simplification
Denmark does support that the directive is simplified, i.e. the requirements for the internal op-
erations in Art. 4 (2) and Art. 5 should be repealed, as they involve administrative burdens
which are not sufficiently justifiable compared to the low degree of protection offered by these
paragraphs in one-member companies.
10 Company law – accountancy
Fourth Council Directive 78/660/EEC and Seventh Council Directive 83/349/EEC
Description of simplification proposal
The Communication on a simplified business environment for companies in the areas of com-
pany law, accounting and auditing (from July 2007) included proposals of exempting micro en-
tities from the accounting directives.
Subsequently the Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Charlie McCreevy, has in
September 2008 announced that he will ask the Commission to present a proposal on exempt-
ing micro entities from the accounting directives.
Reason for simplification
The proposal to exempt micro entities from the directive entails that it will possible for the
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Member States to decide on which accountancy rules should apply to micro entities, includ-
ing refrain from demanding accountancy information from these entities. This does not mean
that Denmark cannot regulate micro entities. On the other hand this means that we will have
extended degrees of freedom in relation to how we will regulate these entities. It is the opin-
ion of the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency that we should engage in a constructive
dialogue on the proposal on exempting micro entities from the accounting directives. The
discussions should also include considerations on the definition and scope of micro entities.
11 Company law – accountancy
Fourth Council Directive 78/660/EEC and Seventh Council Directive 83/349/EEC – modernis-
ing the accounting directives
Description of simplification proposal
The Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Charlie McCreevy, has in September 2008
announced that he will ask the Commission to present a proposal on modernising the account-
ing directives.
Reason for simplification
The Danish Commerce and Companies’ Agency believes that Denmark should support a mod-
ernising of the directives. Moreover it is the perception of the Agency that a discussion of a
number of the proposals from the Communication on a simplified business environment for
companies in the areas of company law, accounting and auditing should be included in the
work for the upcoming modernising of the accounting directives.
12 Food safety
Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000
establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the
labelling of beef and beef products and repealing Council regulation (EC) No 820/97, title II,
Section II: Voluntary beef labelling system
Description of simplification proposal
Repealing of the provisions in the above mentioned legislative act regarding the voluntary beef
labelling system.
Reason for simplification
The voluntary beef labelling system causes considerable administrative burdens for the indus-
try, because they have to send a specification for approval to the competent authority, if they
want to use other labelling indications than those, which are compulsory for beef.
This burden seems to be unnecessary, because the traceability of the meat is ensured by the
compulsory labelling elements (the reference number). Furthermore, the horizontal provisions
on labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs should be able to cover voluntary indi-
cations on beef meat.
13 Food safety
Council regulation (EC) No 361/2008 of 14 April 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No
1234/2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provi-
sions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation), article 113b and annex XIa;
Marketing of the meat of bovine animals aged 12 months or less.
Description of simplification proposal
The system for marketing of the meat of bovine animals aged 12 months or less should be a
voluntary and not compulsory system.
Reason for simplification
The system causes heavy burdens for the industry, because there are two kinds of veal meat,
which have to be kept separate. In Denmark, we do not have a traditional use of “light veal
meat”, which means meat from animals aged 8 months or less. Thus, it seems pointless to have
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two categories of veal meat in Denmark.
Furthermore, the recording demands in point VI of annex XIa are too comprehensive. The gen-
eral provisions on traceability should be enough to ensure food safety.
The operators should be able to choose if they want to use this system for meat from bovine
animals aged 12 months or less or if they want to market the meat as beef in accordance with
the provisions for beef labelling.
14 Fisheries
Council Regulation (EEC) No 2347/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system appli-
cable to the common fisheries policy – and recovery plans within the Common Fisheries Policy
which contains specific control benchmarks.
Description of simplification proposal
More control should be based on risk analyses.
Reason for simplification
Instead of fixing very specific benchmarks and minimum standards to the number of inspec-
tions the rules should to a higher degree leave it to Member States to document a relevant and
effective control based on risk analyses.
15 Fisheries
Council Regulation (EC) No 423/2004 of 26 February 2004 establishing measures for the re-
covery of cod stocks and Council Regulation (EC) No 1098/2007 of 18 September 2007 estab-
lishing a multiannual plan for the cod stocks in the Baltic Sea and the fisheries exploiting those
stocks, amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 779/97.
Description of simplification proposal
Harmonisation of messages, for example fishing effort messages and prior notification in
Regulation No 423/2004, Article 9 and 11 and Regulation No 1098/2007, Article 13 and 17.
Reason for simplification
Rules about information from fishermen about for example fishing effort messages and prior
notification are different in different management areas. A fisherman fishing in both the Baltic
Sea and in Kattegat must send different notifications pending on where he fish. It would ease
administrative burdens if the rules in different areas were harmonized.
16 Fisheries
Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2807/83 of 22 September 1983 laying down detailed rules
for recording information on Member States' catches of fish, Council Regulation (EC) No
423/2004 of 26 February 2004 establishing measures for the recovery of cod stocks, Council
Regulation (EC) No 1098/2007 of 18 September 2007 establishing a multiannual plan for the
cod stocks in the Baltic Sea and the fisheries exploiting those stocks Council Regulation (EC)
No 676/2007 of 11 June 2007 establishing a multiannual plan for fisheries exploiting stocks of
plaice and sole in the North Sea – and other multiannual plans.
Description of simplification proposal
Harmonisation of rules about margin of tolerance in the logbook, for example Article 5(2) in
Commission Regulation, Article 11, in Council Regulation 676/2007 etc.
Reason for simplification
It would ease administrative burdens, if the same rule about margin of tolerance applied in all
situations, and it would be easier to control one single rule than many different rules.
17 Agriculture
Article 24,2 in Commission Regulation (EC) No 796/2004 of 21 April 2004 laying down de-
tailed rules for the implementation of cross-compliance, modulation and the integrated admini-
stration and control system provided for in of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 estab-
lishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and es-
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tablishing certain support schemes for farmers.
Description of simplification proposal
Introduction of a triviality limit regarding deviation between the agricultural parcels as de-
clared in the single application and the reference parcels as contained in the identification sys-
tem for agricultural parcels.
Reason for simplification
In 2008 approximately 4000 cases were reopened due to a lacking correspondence on 0,1 ha.
18 Agriculture
Article 70 in Commission Regulation (EC) No 796/2004 of 21 april 2004 laying down detailed
rules for the implementation of cross-compliance, modulation and the integrated administration
and control system provided for in of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 establishing
common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establish-
ing certain support schemes for farmers.
Description of simplification proposal
Introduction of a de-minimis threshold (triviality limit) on area regarding application for SFP.
Today Member States may decide not to grant any aid if the amount per aid application does
not exceed EUR 100. In the future member states should be able to decide not to grant any aid
if the area related to the payment is fewer than 5 ha.
Reason for simplification
The proposal will make it possible to grant support only to professional farmers.
19 Agriculture
Article 3 in Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing com-
mon rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing
certain support schemes for farmers and amending Regulations (EEC) No 2019/93, (EC) No
1452/2001, (EC) No 1453/2001, (EC) No 1454/2001, (EC) 1868/94, (EC) No 1251/1999, (EC)
No 1254/1999, (EC) No 1673/2000, (EEC) No 2358/71 and (EC) No 2529/2001.
Description of simplification proposal
Member states should have the option to make lists of Statuary Management Requirements and
GAEC standards available to farmers by electronic means and restrict the obligation to provide
paper copies to cases where the farmer ask for this.
Reason for simplification
The proposal will make it easier to use e-government /digitalisation.
20 Statistics
Council regulation (EEC) No 530/1999 of 9th marts 1999
Description of simplification proposal
The proposal is to cut back on the analysis of coherence to a much more aggregated level.
There is definitely a need to control coherence between statistics produced in different do-
mains. A number of the differences are due to the definitions and concepts of the statistical
products. It is burdensome for Member States to explain these differences, which occur in each
country and in many cases they are similar. When analysis of coherence is needed, our pro-
posal is that Eurostat conducts it and Member States only comment on substantial differences
not related to definitions or concepts.
Reason for simplification
The quality reports are based on a common template with six quality dimensions where one of
the quality dimensions is coherence with other statistical areas with identical or similar vari-
ables. Documentation regarding Structural Statistics on Earnings and Labour Costs for coher-
ence in data related to: The Labour Force Survey (LFS), Structure of Business Statistics (SBS),
Labour Cost Index (LCI) and National Accounts (NA) have to be delivered on NACE sections
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and reasons have to be indicated if differences occur.
21 Statistics
Council regulation (EEC) No 3924/91 of 19th December 1991
Description of simplification proposal
Two different production concepts are used in the PRODCOM Regulation. Statistics suggests
that the same production concept should be used for all commodity groups, namely production
sold during the survey period. The two different production concepts are:
1) Data concerning 82% of the 5,600 detailed industrial commodity groups in the Regulation is
collected on the basis of production sold during the survey period.
2) The remaining 18% must be collected on the basis of produced industrial commodities in
the reference period, including the production of intermediaries used as a production input in
the enterprise itself.
Reason for simplification
Maintaining the two existing production concepts is contrary to the present efforts of simplify-
ing the collection of data in order to:
1) reduce the response burden,
2) reduce the administrative statistical work and
3) increase the quality of the data (as many enterprises are not aware of the distinction between
the existences of different production concepts).
22 Statistics
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1901/2000 laying
down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91
Description of simplification proposal
Denmark supports the work that has been done to introduce a single-flow system, but several
conditions have to be fulfilled:
- The quality of the resulting statistics for each individual Member State (i.e. both flows) must
be maintained.
- Timeliness in connection with the collection and dissemination of data has to be guaranteed
and for some Member States must be improved significantly compared with the situation to-
day.
- The inclusion of new Member States in the European Union must be taken into account in re-
spect of the above-mentioned conditions.
Reason for simplification
Danish studies have revealed that Intrastat statistics accounts for 3/4 of the total statistical bur-
den on companies (AMVAB, sep. 2004). The total burden caused by Intrastat on Danish com-
panies has been estimated to 17 mill. Euro/year. Especially Intrastat Import is burdensome, ac-
counting for totally 2/3 of the total statistic burdens in Denmark.
23 Statistics
Directive 95/64
Description of simplification proposal
Denmark proposes to discontinue the compilation of the statistics.
Reason for simplification
The Council Directive on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by
sea was adopted in 1995. These statistics account for the smallest user requirements among the
statistics on transport, and from a Danish point of view the compilation of the statistics can be
discontinued.
24 Financial
Insurance directives – notably directive 92/49
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Description of simplification proposal and reason for it
The existing procedures when notifying cross-border activities and the setting up of branches
should be simplified. The present system based on letters from the supervisory authorities to
the companies containing information on the content of the "general good" rules may be re-
placed with a reference to the homepage of the supervisory authorities.
25 Financial
Directive 2003/71/EC of 4 November 2003
Description of simplification proposal
Proposal for simplification Simplify the rules, notably article 10 which could possibly be abol-
ished.
Reason for simplification
Under Article 10 companies are required on an annual basis to publish a summary of all infor-
mation given to the public during the year. This arrangement seems rather superfluous and
should be abolished. The annual report is supposed to cover all important events of the year.
26 Financial
Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 9 December 2002 on in-
surance mediation.
Description of simplification proposal
Abolish the demand in article 3 for registration of intermediaries who act under the full respon-
sibility of one or more insurance companies.
Reason for simplification
The directive should be simplified regarding the registration requirements and the use of
criminal records.
For instance, when a bank – being an insurance mediation – is registered with the cooperating
insurance company, art 3, it seems administratively burdensome and too excessive that also the
persons within the management who are responsible for the mediation business. The require-
ment in art 4 according to which the management and any staff directly involved in insurance
mediation shall provide a clean police record and be subject to current surveillance on this is-
sue is also administratively burdensome. The fulfilment of the principle of “good repute”
should be left to the banks and should not be based on a general requirement of providing a
clean police record, unless where there is reason for that.
27 Financial
Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002
concerning life assurance.
Description of simplification proposal
Art. 36, 1. - " Before the assurance contract is concluded, at least the information listed in An-
nex III(A) shall be communicated to the policy holder"
The directive requires that the company communicate a number of information to the policy
holder before conclusion of the insurance contract.
The requirement for information before conclusion of the contract should be replaced by a re-
quirement for information in connection with the conclusion of the contract. The important
thing is to make sure that the information is communicated to the policy holder at the time
when he needs the information, at the latest, for example when the policy holder is to make
certain choices or back off from the contract. Furthermore, in certain insurance schemes, not
least schemes where membership of the scheme is made mandatory by another contract, it is
often not possible to fulfil the requirement for communication of the information before con-
clusion of the contract as the policy holder is enrolled in the scheme before the insurance com-
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pany obtains knowledge of the policy holder's identity. The insurance company may for exam-
ple not be informed on the policy holder's enrolment until the first premium payment.
Art 36, stk. 2 -
" The policy-holder shall be kept informed throughout the term of the contract
of any change concerning the information listed in Annex III(B)"
The directive should be amended so that the required time for notification of the policy holder
of changes is determined by the importance of the change for the policy holder. In cases of less
important changes, for example changes not concerning essential parts of the contract, the
company should be allowed to postpone the communication of the information and include it
in a broader publishing at a later point in time.
Annex III - demand for written information
The companies should be entitled to fulfil the demand for written information by making the
information available electronically. A company should be able to assume that communication
from company to customer has a digital form even if there is no specific agreement on this.
However, the customer should be able to, on request, have the information in paper (active re-
quest), unless the information concerns pure web–based products. The company's digital com-
munication must live up to certain basic principles. Among other things, confidentiality of per-
sonal information must be secured and it must be assured that the company has not subse-
quently changed the information.
Reason for simplification
In a number of areas it would be possible to simplify the rules so that the information required,
to a higher degree than today, reflects the needs of the customer. This also implies the possibil-
ity of applying means of digital communication, for example presenting information relevant
to the customers at the internet. Besides simplification along these lines would considerably
reduce the administrative burden for the companies.
28 Financial
Directive 2006/48/EC relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions.
Description of simplification proposal
Revise the rule in art. 57 (1) point (l) and (m).
Reason for simplification
The definition of financial institutions in Art 4 (5) also includes Undertakings for Collective
Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS).
It is felt unreasonable especially with regard to the deduction rules in art. 57 (1) point (l) and
(m) that investments in UCITS made by credit institutions exceeding some thresholds of ten
pct. always have weight 100 although the underlying investments have a lower weight.
29 Maritime
Regulation No 725/2004 of 31 March 2004 on enhancing ship and port facility security.
Description of simplification proposal
The Commission is encouraged to consider the above mentioned ISPS inspections on board
ships as sufficient and consider participating with Member States on the regular inspections.
Thus, article 9 regulation 4 must be adapted accordingly to include a coordination of EU and
national ISPS inspections.
Reason for simplification
Article 9 regulation 4 states:
“Six months after the date of application of the relevant measures referred to in Article 3, the
Commission, in cooperation with the focal point referred to in paragraph 2, shall start a series
of inspections, including inspections of a suitable sample of port facilities and relevant compa-
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nies, to monitor the application by member States of this Regulation.”
The fact is that vessels are very often inspected by a number of different authorities who per-
form inspections of the very same objects such as for example the efficiency of the vessel’s ac-
cess control, the presence of the vessel’s certificates and to various degrees also the crew’s
ability to cope with the requirements in the vessel’s Ship Security Plan:
•
All vessels to which Regulation 725/2004 applies were ISPS certified in 2004 by the Con-
tracting Government
•
These vessels are being audited in the future by the Contracting Government on a regular
basis
•
These vessels are being monitored closely by the Contracting Government as required in
the ISPS Code reg. A 4.4
•
These vessels are being inspected (incl. ISPS) by the Port State Control regime on a regular
basis
Further ISPS inspections will increase the administrative burdens on board the vessels.
30 Maritime
Council Directive 97/70/EC of 11 December 1997 setting up a harmonized safety regime for
fishing vessels of 24 meters in length and over.
Description of simplification proposal
The need for harmonisation to a system as in the SOLAS convention (surveys within 5 years)
is very much needed.
Reason for simplification
Article 3 of the directive General requirements states:
“Member States shall ensure that the
provisions of the Annex to the Torremolinos Protocol are applied to the fishing vessels
concerned flying their flag, unless Annex I to this Directive provides otherwise.”
Article 6 point 2 of the directive and regulation 6 of chapter I to the Annex to the Torremolinos
Convention states in (1) (b) that surveys regarding the structure including the outside of the
hull shall be carried out with intervals of four years. This requirement is in contradiction to the
requirements adopted by the recognised organisations mentioned in Article 5 of the directive
these organisations are carrying out surveys with intervals of five years.
This means that a fishing vessel according to the rules of the recognised organisations have to
carry out surveys within intervals of 5 years and according to the flag State rules within inter-
vals of 4 years, which is a unnecessary burden.