Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels and repealing Directive 2006/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

Council Directive 82/714/EEC of 4 October 1982 laying down the technical requirements for inland waterway vessels introduced harmonised conditions for issuing technical certificates for inland waterway vessels in all Member States, albeit excluding operations on the Rhine. Essentially, the technical requirements set out in the annexes to Directive 82/714/EEC incorporated the provisions laid down in the Rhine Vessel Inspection Regulation, in the version approved by the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine (CCNR) in 1982. The conditions and technical requirements for issuing inland navigation certificates under Article 22 of the Revised Convention for Rhine Navigation have been revised regularly since then for most current types of vessels and are recognised as reflecting current technological developments.

For competition and safety reasons it was desirable, specifically in the interests of promoting harmonisation at European level, to set a framework for such technical requirements for the whole of the EU's inland waterway network. Therefore, Directive 2006/87/EC, which has replaced Directive 82/714 EEC, ensures that Union inland navigation certificates attesting that all types of crafts are fully compliant with the aforementioned revised technical requirements are valid on all EU inland waterways, including on the Rhine and that Rhine certificates are valid on all EU inland waterways.

In the context of Directive 2006/87/EC, the technical requirements for inland waterway vessels are laid down in annex II. The proposed Directive re-organises the content of the annexes so as to ensure that these only cover aspects of a technical or a procedural nature. Aspects referring to the decision-making mechanism are integrated into the main text of the Directive.

The approach taken in this proposal is to delegate powers to the Commission in respect of adapting the annexes of this directive in light of scientific and technical progress or of developments in this area arising from the work of other international organisations, in particular that of the CCNR. In particular, the Commission should be empowered to adopt delegated acts for adapting the annexes, including for modifying the models of documents set out in the annexes to this Directive and adopting or modifying administrative instructions.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)622: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:622:FIN

ESO: Background information: Making better use of Europe's waterways http://www.europeansources.info/record/making-better-use-of-europes-waterways/

---