Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS)

The Commission welcomes most of the proposed parliamentary changes. Firstly, it accepts a re-wording of the Committee to be known as the "Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships". The Commission proposes that in future it should be referred to as "COSS" in order to clarify and simplify its name. Concerning the role of the European Parliament in the regulatory procedure, the Commission can accept this amendment subject to some rewording based on the standard wording approved at inter-institutional level for committee procedures. Thirdly, the Commission agrees to amend Article 4 relating to the conformity checking procedure. The Commission accepts a need for clarification and has itself made changes to the wording of the text in order to achieve this objective. In addition to accepting many of the Parliament's amendments, the Commission is taking the opportunity to propose some changes which would draw a distinct line between the recently established "European Maritime Safety Agency" and COSS. The first was set up in the wake of the ERIKA disaster. COSS on the other hand has a different remit. In order to clarify the roles and objectives of the two Committees the Commission proposes amending its proposal. The objective is to make it clear that the Committee will act only strictly within the implementing powers conferred on the Commission under the Treaty and that this proposal will imply no extension of these powers. Finally, the adopted proposal takes into account recently adopted Directives relating to port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues and a Directive on the minimum level of training of seafarers.�