Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2008/106/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the minimum level of training of seafarers

The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (the STCW Convention) was concluded in 1978 among the State Parties to the IMO (International Maritime Organization, the UN agency in charge of the international regulatory framework for shipping). The convention deals with the requirements for training of seafarers (mainly officers) and the relevant certification. The STCW Convention was significantly amended in 1995.

The Convention was integrated into Community law by Directive 94/58 on minimum training for seafarers. Directive 94/58 was amended several times and eventually replaced by Directive 2001/25, in turn replaced by Directive 2008/106, currently in force. Over time EU rules were modified, mainly in order to transpose the amendments to the STCW Convention, but also to develop and streamline a system for the recognition of seafarers educated and trained outside the EU.

Against this background, in 2007 the IMO launched a comprehensive review of the STCW Convention to which both the Commission and the Member States actively contributed and which was achieved with the adoption of a series of significant amendments, agreed upon by the State-parties at the Manila Conference on 25 June 2010.

The Manila amendments to the Convention will enter into force on 1 January 2012. From that date onwards maritime training will have to meet the new requirements. Since the EU Member States are also parties to the Convention, and none of them opposed the Manila amendments, they will have to adapt their legislation to the new text of the Convention. Also EU law should align with international rules, as it has been done so far and in order to avoid any conflict between the international and the EU obligations of the Member States.

Alignment with international rules is precisely the objective of the present proposal, which also includes a few features aiming to take the opportunity of this legislative initiative to slightly streamline the STCW Directive.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)555: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:555:FIN

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