The European Parliament and Council Directive 2005/35/EC of 7 September 2005, as amended by Directive 2009/123/EC of 21 October 2009 “on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of penalties, including criminal penalties, for pollution offences”, states that the European Maritime Safety Agency shall:

(a) ‘work with the Member States in developing technical solutions and providing technical assistance …in actions such as tracing discharges by satellite monitoring and surveillance’;

(b) ‘assist the Commission in the implementation of this Directive’ including, if appropriate, by means of visits to the Member States, in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002’.

The Directive recognises that EMSA ‘has a key role to play in working with the Member States in developing technical solutions and providing technical assistance relating to the implementation of this Directive and in assisting the Commission in the performance of any task assigned to it for the effective implementation of this Directive’.

amending Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the sulphur content of marine fuels.

The Directive 1999/32/EC establishes limits on the maximum sulphur content of gas oils, heavy fuel oil in land-based applications as well as marine fuels for which it serves as the EU legal instrument to incorporate the sulphur provisions of the MARPOL Annex VI. The Directive furthermore contains some additional fuel-specific requirements for ships calling at EU ports, obligations related to the use of fuels covered by the Directive, and the placing on the market of certain fuels (e.g. marine gas oils). The Directive does not contain provisions to regulate ship emissions of NOx or PM.

By the amendment 2005/33/EC parallel requirements in the EU to those in MARPOL Annex VI in respect of the sulphur content of marine fuels was introduced. In addition, it also introduced a 0.1% maximum sulphur requirement for fuels used by ships at berth in EU ports from 1st January 2010. This Directive is currently under review with the goal to align it with the 2008 MARPOL amendment. Further information on the on-going amendment procedure can be found through:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/transport/ships_directive.htm

on enhancing ship and port facility security (Text with EEA relevance)

amending Council Directive 98/18/EC on safety rules and standards for passenger ships

on specific stability requirements for ro-ro passenger ships (Text with EEA relevance)

on the prohibition of organotin compounds on ships.

establishing a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) and amending the Regulations on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships and the corresponding

establishing the objectives and tasks, the internal structure and functioning and the financial requirements of EMSA. It was published on 5 August 2002 in the Official Journal of European Communities.