Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 establishing a European Maritime Safety Agency

There are currently more than 300 civilian and military authorities in the Member States responsible for carrying out coastguard functions in a wide range of areas such as maritime safety, security, search and rescue, border control, fisheries control, customs control, general law enforcement and environmental protection. A number of EU agencies, in particular Frontex, the European Maritime Safety Agency and the European Fisheries Control Agency, support the national authorities in the exercise of these functions.

In 2014, the Commission finalised a feasibility study to examine the need for improved co-operation and co-ordination between national bodies and agencies carrying out coastguard functions. This study identifies a range of issues for closer collaboration, in particular in the areas of operational surveillance and data sharing which underpins all these functions.

The need to enhance collaboration and coordination between authorities carrying out coastguard functions has subsequently been acknowledged in the Union maritime transport legislation, the European Union Maritime Security Strategy with an Action Plan adopted by the Council in 2014 and in the European Agenda on Migration adopted by the Commission in 2015.

This legislative proposal forms part of a set of measures proposed by the Commission to reinforce the protection of Europe's external borders, including European cooperation on coastguard function, which also includes a Proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Border and Coast Guard Agency and a Proposal to amend Council Regulation (EC) No 768/2005 establishing a European Fisheries Control Agency.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)667: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:667:FIN

ESO: Background information: A European Border and Coast Guard to protect Europe's External Borders http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-a-european-border-and-coast-guard-to-protect-europes-external-borders/

---