Carriage of goods and persons by inland waterway: conditions for obtaining national boatmasters' certificates

The amended proposal incorporates all the amendments adopted by the European Parliament. The amendments call for: - joint provisions for issuing inland waterway boatmasters' certificates to be laid down so that safety requirements in the inland waterway sector can gradually be strengthened; - examinations in knowledge and skills to be carried out by the Member States and organized on the basis of equivalent procedures; - the directive to apply to boatmasters of towed vessels and pushed barges; - Member States to retain the facility to issue a boatmaster's certificate to persons aged 18 and upwards; - professional experience to be validated by the Member State by entering it in a personal service record; - certificates of aptitude to be kept with the boatmaster's certificate; - not only for the boatmaster to be in possession of a certificate for the transportation of dangerous substances, but for the boatmaster or another member of the crew to have passed the examinations or to hold the certificate issued in accordance with the requirements of the ADNR (marginalia 10135 and 210315); - the boatmaster also to have a Rhine radar navigation certificate in order to sail a vessel with the aid of radar; - Member States to consult at least once a year on examination requirements and regulations for the purposes of harmonization; - the requirements in Annex II to be strengthened by adding the following subjects: entering and leaving tidal ports; knowledge of ropes, cables, chains and closing devices; knowledge of control mechanisms (hydraulic/pneumatic); safety requirements.�