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

IMPLEMENTING ACT: Commission Regulation (EC) No 93/2007 amending Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS).

CONTENT:  the Committee on “Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships”, referred to as “COSS”, was set up by Regulation (EC) No 93/2007.

The purpose of COSS is to bring together and centralise the tasks of all other Community committees dealing with maritime safety, the prevention of pollution from ships and the protection of shipboard living and working conditions. As such, all new Community legislation that affects maritime safety must have recourse to COSS.

Since the adoption of the COSS Regulation a number of new legislative acts have been adopted relating to maritime safety. Specifically they are:

·         Regulation (EC) No 789/2004 on the transfer of cargo and passenger ships between registers within the Community.

·         Directive 2005/35/EC on ship-source pollution and the introduction of penalties for infringements; and

·         Regulation (EC) No 336/2006 on the implementation of the International Safety management Code within the Community.

The purpose of this implementing Regulation is to register the above mentioned legislative acts under Article 2 (2) of the COSS Regulation.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1 February 2007.