The Norwegian Maritime Authority announced amendments to the regulations on Port State Control with the aim to implement a provision in Council Directive 97/70/EC on the establishment of a harmonised safety regime for fishing vessels of 24 meters in length and upwards.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration refers to the inclusion of fishing vessels in the Regulations on port State control and points out that it may be questioned whether the amendments are to be understood in such a way that the reporting routines in chapter 3 now also include fishing vessels.
The Norwegian Maritime Authority specifies that with regard to fishing vessels, the purpose of the amendments is only to satisfy Article 7 of Directive 97/70/EC concerning the obligation to check that foreign fishing vessels are constructed and equipped in accordance with the Directive.
The Norwegian Maritime Authority clarifies that this movement is an independent control obligation not part of the Paris MOU nor Directive 2009/18/EC on port State control, and it is not their intention to extend the reporting requirements in SafeSeaNet or to make the control of foreign fishing vessels part of the detailed, regulated control regime that applies to other ships engaged on international voyages.
Directive 97/70/EC (as amended by Directives 1999/19/EC, 2002/35/EC and 2002/84/EC) regulates fishing vessels of 24 metres in overall length and upwards. Article 7 imposes obligations on the member States to control that foreign fishing vessels calling at a Norwegian port, landing catch in a Norwegian port or operating in Norwegian territorial waters comply with the provisions of the Directive.
These control provisions have not been sufficiently taken into account in Norwegian legislation. Explicit legal basis to check that foreign fishing vessels comply with the requirements of the Directive is now incorporated as new section 4a of the Regulations on port State control, in line with Norway’s commitments under the EEA Agreement.
Control of foreign fishing vessels is not included in the relevant geographical port State control regime (Paris MOU), nor is there a corresponding harmonised control regime for foreign fishing vessels. In addition, the control obligations are not otherwise specified in number or divided into risk categories.
Within the current budget framework, the Norwegian Maritime Authority will carry out controls on foreign fishing vessels with the intention of verifying that the ships comply with the requirements of Directive 97/70/EC, in the form of unscheduled inspection or other randomised controls based on general principles for risk assessment of supervisory activity.
Explore more about the Regulation concerning amendments to Regulations on Port State control herebelow
