Revision of Port state control Directive

Key points

The EESC:

• advocates that the amendments of the Directive must take into account core EU policy priorities related to the Green Deal, the EU and UN Sustainable Development Goals agenda, human and workers' rights and social cohesion. Thus, the revised parts of the Directive must provide clarity on minimum working conditions for seafarers, the conservation of waters and fish, and environmental protection as a whole;

• underlines that Port State control (PSC) requires a qualitative and quantitative upgrade of personnel, since the new regulation, based on International Maritime Organization rules, is more demanding, and inspection skills must be improved technically and operationally. It is therefore essential to finance the upskilling and reskilling of PSC officers via up-to-date training courses. The EESC welcomes the fact that the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has been made responsible for designing and offering training courses to the EU Member States' agencies to enable them to better fulfil such requirements;

• emphasizes that Member States must ensure that there will be a common, unified and mutually approved methodology and certification process for digital monitoring and exchanges of information for all types of vessels. The EESC supports the use of electronic certificates.