Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/411 of 19 November 2019 amending Directive 2009/45/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on safety rules and standards for passenger ships, as regards the safety requirements for passenger ships engaged on domestic voyages (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive 2009/45/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 6 May 2009 on safety rules and standards for passenger ships^f1, and in particular Article 10(2) thereof,

Whereas:

The International Conventions referred to in point (a) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/45/EC have been amended. A detailed review of technical elements has also shown that some of the earlier amendments of International Conventions have been omitted.

Directive (EU) 2017/2108 of the European Parliament and the Council^f2 amended the definition of ‘equivalent material’ to include aluminium ships within the scope of Directive 2009/45/EC. To ensure harmonised implementation, it is necessary to enter a number of technical clarifications in the Annexes to Directive 2009/45/EC with regard to aluminium ships.

Furthermore, Directive (EU) 2017/2108 has excluded passenger ships measuring less than 24 metres in length from the scope of Directive 2009/45/EC. The technical requirements for those ships should therefore be deleted from Annex I to Directive 2009/45/EC.

Experience has revealed several ambiguities and inconsistencies in the technical requirements related to missing or incorrect references.

The Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT) found that the outdated format of Annex I to Directive 2009/45/EC meant that the safety standards for passenger ships engaged on domestic voyages has become extremely difficult to compare against the existing international requirements. The REFIT fitness check included a recommendation to simplify that Annex to increase its readability.

Pursuing this simplification and increased readability, while also updating some technical requirements, it is deemed appropriate to structure the Annex I of Directive 2009/45/EC into two sections, one being applicable to ships, the keel of which was laid or which were at a similar stage of construction before 19 September 2021, and the other one being applicable to ships, the keel of which was laid or which were at a similar stage of construction on or after 19 September 2021. Section 1 of Annex I shall contain the most relevant updates concerning the elimination of all provisions for passenger ships below 24m in length, provisions for protections against noise, emergency towing procedures, and requirements for ships using low flashpoint fuels.

Experience with Directive 2009/45/EC has shown that it could take up to 30 months for each update of international standards to be transposed into national law. The REFIT fitness check has therefore recommended exploring whether the current update procedure can be accelerated in order to reduce the transposition costs for Member States. Experience with the implementation of other directives in the field, has shown that updating the technical requirements by means of a Regulation reduces the time for the adaptation to revised requirements of the International Maritime Organisation (‘IMO’) and eliminates transposition costs for Member States. Therefore, the technical safety requirements and the corresponding certificate forms laid down in Annexes I, II and III to Directive 2009/45/EC should be set out by means of a Regulation.

To provide sufficient time for operators to adapt to the amended technical requirements contained in the Annexes to this Regulation, as well as to enable Member States to repeal their national measures transposing the Annexes of Directive 2009/45/EC, and to adapt their national provisions in order to ensure the full effectiveness of those amended technical requirements, the application should be deferred.

Directive 2009/45/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: