Port State Control has become one of the most effective tools to verify if ships comply with international safety, pollution prevention and crewing regulations. Port State control inspections should be carried out in a harmonised way to ensure equivalent safety standards and to avoid distortion of competition. At the request of the Commission, the Agency is visiting member States' administrations and their ports to verify the implementation of PSC rules and procedures within the European Union.

After having completed in 2007 the first full cycle of inspection visits to monitor the functioning of the PSC regime and after having compiled an overall report on the implementation of the PSC system in the EU, the Commission requested the Agency to monitor the follow-up actions related to non-compliances recorded during the first cycle of visits. This monitoring, was carried out in 2008, 2009 and 2010

With the implementation of the New Inspection Regime from 1 January 2011 a new cycle of inspection visits is expected to be decided by the Commission.

The Agency also assists the EFTA Surveillance Authority in monitoring the implementation of the port State control Directive by Norway and Iceland.