Continuous efforts needed to establish harmonised reporting procedures for Maritime vessels
27 Jun 2014 04:33 PM
The European Commission today adopted the report
on the functioning of the reporting formalities directive (Directive 2010/65).
The Directive aims to ensure that by June 2015 vessels entering or departing EU
ports will provide required information electronically via one single entry
point – the National Single Window. At present, these procedures are
often considered duplicative and time consuming, resulting in costs and delays
making maritime transport less attractive. The report urges Member States to
step up efforts for this major simplification and harmonisation of the current
reporting procedures to become reality.
Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for
transport, said: "I am pleased to see that we are progressing in
establishing a key component for reducing administrative burden for vessels.
Once in place, the National Single Windows will serve as the single entry point
for maritime formalities. I encourage the Member States to continue their
efforts so that the deadline of June 2015 can be
achieved."
All
Member States have done considerable work to transpose the Directive.
Initiatives for the National Single Window implementation have been taken,
mostly building on existing platforms, technical solutions and standards.
Naturally, there is an impact on the budget and the budgeting processes of
those involved in the implementation. The objective of collecting the required
data in a harmonised way is not solely financial or technical but also
organisational. The Member States and the European Commission have therefore
established coordination mechanisms to foster the cooperation between various
authorities at local and national levels, paving the way for the implementation
of truly harmonised and cooperative solutions.
The
European Commission recommends that EU guidelines and technical specifications
for the implementation of the National Single Windows are agreed upon urgently
by the European coordination group In the absence of harmonised implementation
with non-interoperable standards, the National Single Windows might differ from
Member State to Member State, necessitating industry to develop interfaces to
communicate with each of these systems, leading to increasing implementation
costs.
As
requested by the European Parliament and the Council the report looks also into
the possibility of extending the simplifications introduced by the Directive to
inland waterway transport, the availability of statistics on traffic movement
of specific types of cargo within the Union and/or calling third country ports
as well as further simplification of formalities for vessels that have called
third country ports.
In
addition, clarity is needed on the modalities for lodging cargo information in
the National Single Windows. Currently, an electronic goods manifest
(eManifest) is being developed in the context of the Blue Belt initiative with
the aim of using it to also meet the Directive’s reporting requirements
on cargo. The Commission hopes to get the eManifest proposal adopted before the
summer.
Follow Vice-President Kallas on Twitter
Contacts :
Helen
Kearns (+32 2 298 76 38)
Dale Kidd (+32
2 295 74 61)
For
the public: Europe Direct by
phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by email
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