Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-02-Speech-1-121"
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"en.20030602.8.1-121"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the sinking of the
oil tanker off the Galician coast on 18 November last clearly demonstrated, once again, the insufficiencies of international maritime safety legislation specifically regulating oil transport by sea.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, these are the key points of our proposal. Its final objective is, as we have repeated many times, to prevent another
another
or any other disaster of this kind in our waters.
This accident highlighted, in particular, the urgent need to adopt the measures presented by the Commission following another similar accident involving the
. Some weeks after the sinking of the
therefore, the Commission sent the European Parliament and the Council a new Regulation introducing three urgent measures into current legislation.
First of all, an immediate ban on the transport of heavy oil grades in single-hull oil tankers bound for or leaving ports, offshore terminals or anchorage areas in the Member States of the European Union.
Secondly, a revision of the scheme for an accelerated phasing out of single-hull oil tankers, by reducing the maximum permitted age of vessels and bringing forward the deadlines for abolishment with regard to those originally proposed by the measures in the
package, in order to increase protection of the marine environment, thereby incorporating the Commission’s original proposals in the so-called
package.
Thirdly, a more general application of the special inspection regime for oil tankers, in order to assess the structural integrity of single-hull vessels over fifteen years old. All this means that the new Regulation aims to change the current situation radically, making it obligatory to transport fuels with the highest pollution risk in safer vessels.
By means of the new system, the European Union intends to apply legislation as stringent as that applied in the US since 1992 following the
disaster. Lastly, this legislation increases technical inspections of oil tankers that have not yet reached the maximum age limit. All single-hull oil tankers, including small vessels – Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would emphasise this point – that were initially exempt, will now, as of fifteen years of age, have to comply with condition assessment schemes (CAS). Vessels that fail the strict inspection controls will be immediately held in any port of the European Union.
As you are well aware, in March the Ministers for Transport reached a unanimous policy agreement concerning these measures. Examination by the Council made it possible to introduce a number of amendments that improved the initial proposal. For example, the Regulation now comprises a clearer definition of what is meant by heavy oil grades, for the purposes of applying the bans contained in the proposal. The definition is based on technical parameters that are well known to the sector and the authorities will have no difficulty in applying it.
Account is also taken of the situation of the fleet of small oil tankers operating in our ports, islands and coasts, which requires an additional adaptation period, but which should also be the subject of adaptation and improvement in terms of safety.
Mr President, I would like to thank the Greek Presidency, and in particular the Minister for the Merchant Navy, Mr Anomeritis, for its excellent work throughout this process."@en1
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"Amoco Cadiz"1
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