SAFETY COUNCIL
Due to the increasing formalisation and strengthening of international
ship safety regimes, mainly triggered by the changes in the United
Nations Convention of the Sea, it was necessary to care for the
„Traditional Ships Fleet“ in times of European harmonisation tendencies
of safety rules for shipping and to take proper precautions against
politics, which might have inappropriate results, e.g., the equalisation
of sail training ships or museum steam boats with SOLAS vessels. The
EMH-Safety Council has energetically initiated and supported a political
process, which safeguards the future operation of Traditional Ships in a
time of modern international safety laws and Port State Control.
Together with 10 European Maritime Administrations and supported by
EU-DG 7 a „Memorandum Of Understanding“ (MOU) and a common minimum
standard were elaborated during 1999 and 2000 in several meetings and
conferences.
The MoU was signed on Sept 8th 2000 in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, by 7
governments (Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, U.K., The Netherlands
and Spain). The document makes sure that these governments shall
mutually accept their national certificates for Traditional Ships and
their crews, e.g. during acts of Port State Control. France, Belgium and
Poland, who also participated the preparatory conferences, did not sign
the MoU in Wilhelmshaven due to administrative / legislative procedures
in their national law, but are interested in principle. The MoU is an
open process, other European countries are invited to join the
agreement. A regular annual meeting of the signatory states, in which
EMH has an observing and advising status, collects the experiences and
develops the agreement further. The first follow-up meeting was held in
Feb.2001 in Rotterdam, the second was in June 2002 in Palma de Mallorca.
In a parallel EU-Project „Quality Shipping and Operation of Traditional
Ships in European Waters – Development of a Common European Approach and
Code of Best Practice“, which was partly sponsored by EU-DG 7 and the
governments of Germany and Denmark, the EMH-Safety Council has developed
guidelines, which can also be used in countries with no special
legislation for operating traditional ships. Large parts of the project
results have been incorporated into the „Wilhelmhaven-MoU.
All efforts undertaken by EMH have followed these prime objectives:
to protect operating Traditional Ships from threats due to
inappropriate application of modern ship safety rules,
to influence and control any European harmonisation processes on the
field of ship safety,
to enable transnational traffic of Traditional Ships under the regime
of Port State Control without the necessity to convert these ships into
modern SOLAS ships.
EMH proudly states after nearly four years of hard work in the Safety
Council, that these objectives are largely attainable.
The new documents (1-10) of the MOU signed 28 November 2005 in London:
| 1 |
Cover Page |
| 2 |
Signatories (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands,
Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom) |
| 3 |
Memorandum of Understanding |
| 4 |
Annex I, Document of Compliance |
| 5 |
Annex II, Standard upon Safe Operation of Traditional Ships |
| 6 |
Annex II.1, Minimum Requirements for Certification |
| 7 |
Annex II.2, Guidance for the Implementation of a Safety Management
System |
| 8 |
Annex III, Recommendation for a Common Practice for the Performance of
Day Trips |
| 9 |
Attachment, Barcelona Charter |
| 10 |
Attachment, Definition of Near Coastel Voyages |
(see for members of the Safety Council of EMH)