Maritime transport: enhancing port security

 The committee adopted the report by Jeanine HENNIS-PLASSCHAERT (ALDE, NL) broadly approving the proposal under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure, subject to a few amendments:

- as the proposal left it up to the Member States themselves to identify the boundaries for each port for the purposes of the directive, it should therefore also be up to the Member States to determine whether or not the directive should apply to areas outside ports (adjacent areas). The committee accordingly changed the wording of Articles 1 and 2;

- again in keeping with the subsidiarity principle, the committee deleted the requirement to set up "port security committees", arguing that it was up to the Member States and ports themselves to determine how the objectives set out in the directive should be attained;

- one amendment addressed concerns voiced by the Council that inspections might generate too much red tape. MEPs specified that the Commission and the competent national bodies would coordinate the various inspections in order to minimise disruption to ports and the administrative burden on inspection bodies;

- the Commission should carry out a study into the costs of measures taken under the directive and cost-sharing between the public authorities, port authorities and operators. The findings of the study should be submitted no later than 31.12.2005;

- lastly, the Commission should submit an evaluation report to Parliament and Council 3 years after the directive's entry into force and every 5 years thereafter, accompanied where necessary by proposals for additional measures.