Technical requirements for inland waterway vessels: implementing powers conferred on the Commission

PURPOSE: to amend Directive 2006/87/EC laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels in order to bring it into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 (comitology), as amended by Council Decision 2006/512/EC of 17 July 2006.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Directive 2006/137/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2006/87/EC laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels.

CONTENT: Directive 2006/87/EC establishes harmonised conditions for issuing technical certificates for inland waterway vessels throughout the Community's inland waterway network. (Please refer to COD/1997/0335). The technical requirements set out in the Annexes to Directive 2006/87/EC for the most part incorporate the provisions laid down in the Regulation on Inspection of Shipping on the Rhine, in the version approved in 2004 by the member states of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine (CCNR). The conditions and technical requirements for issuing inland navigation certificates under Article 22 of the Revised Convention for Rhine Navigation are updated regularly and are recognised as reflecting current technological developments.

This directive provides that the Commission’s powers to establish the conditions under which the technical requirements and administrative procedures set out in the Annexes to Directive 2006/87/EC are amended must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

On grounds of efficiency, the normal time-limits for the regulatory procedure with scrutiny are curtailed for the adoption of such measures amending the Annexes to Directive 2006/87/EC.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 30/12/2006.

TRANSPOSITION: 30/12/2008 for Member States having inland waterways.