European Union

Vice-President Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for Transport today was briefed by the board of the European Cruise Council about cruise ship safety. Vice President Kallas announced that the Commission strongly supports a passenger ship safety review at IMO (International Maritime Organisation) to ensure that European citizens can expect state of the art safety measures in place - no matter where they board a passenger ship. The EU Transport Commissioner outlined the need for a twin-track approach with the IMO.

Vice-President Siim Kallas, European Commissioner for Transport has asked that the currently ongoing review of EU passenger ship safety legislation take fully into account any lessons to be learnt from the Costa Concordia tragedy. The review will prioritise, in particular, the issues of: design and stability of passenger ships, technological developments in the sector, crew training and safe operation, including emergency evacuation procedures. Vice-President Kallas will outline the Commission's position to the European Parliament's Transport Committee on Tuesday 24 January 2012.

On 30 June 2010, the Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, on the "Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Europe, the world's No 1 tourist destination — a new political framework for tourism in Europe" (COM(2010) 352 final).

The consultation on the possible revision of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 aims to gather stakeholders' views on the identification of possible shortcomings of the Regulation and their extent, and on the options to improve its application, either via non-legislative measures or via a revision of the Regulation. The consultation period is 19/12/2011 to 11/03/2012.