ECSA has recently published a report which unveils 16+1 proposals to highlight the industry’s point of view and priorities. It also includes a checklist for better and smarter shipping regulation.
European shipowners fully subscribe to the ‘better regulation’ agenda of the European Commission. As global players, European shipping companies first and foremost need global rules to maintain their competitive edge. Environmental and safety regulations as well as legal matters should therefore remain the prerogative of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
By building trusted partnerships, the EU can enhance its role in the IMO. The EU should also contribute to the IMO’s own objective of better regulation and fewer administrative burdens, for the benefit of seafarers, shipowners and administrations alike.
This checklist aims to achieve both better and smarter EU regulation for shipping:
- EU regulation for shipping should comply with an international subsidiarity test: it must have proven added value beyond what can be achieved at international level and it cannot endanger the global level playing field that shipping needs.
- EU regulation for shipping should comply with the principles of better regulation set out by the IMO: necessity, consistency, proportionality, fitness for purpose, resilience and clarity. Regulations should be goal-based and less prescriptive.
- Legislative processes should be transparent, involving stakeholders at all stages, especially where executive powers reside with the European Commission. The latter have become more relevant since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which introduced and reinforced the use of delegated and implementing acts.
- Impact assessments should occur both at the start and the end of a legislative process, bearing in mind that online surveys cannot replace qualitative input.
- Impact assessments must distinguish between impacts for different segments of the shipping sector, paying particular attention to the impact on short sea shipping as well as smaller and medium-sized companies.
- Impact assessments must consider the impact of regulation on the working conditions of ship crews, especially in terms of administrative burden, a factor which influences the overall effectiveness of regulation.
- Regulation must be technology-neutral and enforceable. Technology must be proven and available prior to the entry into force of new regulations.
- Existing regulation should be systematically reviewed after a sufficiently long period following entry into force (e.g. through REFIT) and appropriate follow-up actions must be envisaged.
