Maritime safety: enforcement of international standards in respect of shipping using Community ports

The purpose of the Directive is, in particular, to enhance the effectiveness of the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control signed in Paris in 1982. In that context it lays down common criteria for the selection of vessels for checking and standardises the procedure for the inspection and detention, taking account, in particular, of the undertakings given by the shipping authorities of the Member States within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding.