RECOMMENDATION FOR SECOND READING on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels, amending Directive 2009/100/EC and repealing Directive 2006/87/EC

5.9.2016 - (07532/2/2016 – C8‑0227/2016 – 2013/0302(COD)) - ***II

Committee on Transport and Tourism
Rapporteur: Ivo Belet

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels, amending Directive 2009/100/EC and repealing Directive 2006/87/EC

(07532/2/2016 – C8‑0227/2016 – 2013/0302(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: second reading)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Council position at first reading (07532/2/2016 – C8‑0227/2016),

–  having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 21 January 2014[1],

–  having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 31 January 2014[2],

–  having regard to its position at first reading[3] on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2013)0622),

–  having regard to Article 294(7) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Rule 76 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A8-0256/2016),

1.  Approves the Council position at first reading;

2.  Notes that the act is adopted in accordance with the Council position;

3.  Instructs its President to sign the act with the President of the Council, in accordance with Article 297(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

4.  Instructs its Secretary-General to sign the act, once it has been verified that all the procedures have been duly completed, and, in agreement with the Secretary-General of the Council, to arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

5  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

• [1]  OJ C 177, 11.6.2014, p. 58.
• [2]  OJ C 126, 26.4.2014, p. 48.
• [3]  Texts adopted of 15.4.2014, P7_TA(2014)0343.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Parliament’s priorities:

At first reading Parliament supported a uniform application of common technical requirements for inland waterway vessels in the European Union in view of ensuring a high level of safety and efficiency in inland navigation. It was also in favour of a swift adaptation of standards to scientific and technical progress taking into account standards developed by international organisations, in particular by CESNI (European Committee for drawing up standards in inland navigation) to be established within the auspices of the Central Commission for the navigation on the Rhine. Parliament also requested a periodic three-year review of the Directive to assess the mechanisms of cooperation with the international organisations concerned.

In order to ensure coherence with other pieces of EU legislation, in particular with Directive 2014/94/EU on the deployment of alternative fuels, Parliament called for the adoption of delegated acts to introduce technical requirements for vessels powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Main achievements:

Parliament and Council agreed on the overall aim of the Directive, which is to provide a harmonised and coherent framework to ensure the same level of safety for inland waterway vessels. The two institutions both supported a rationalisation of the use of resources to develop technical standards and adapt them to scientific and technical progress making use of standards developed by international organisations in particular CESNI.

Council and Parliament had, however, diverging views on how to adapt the annexes with the technical standards. Parliament could not support the use of a dynamic reference to automatically adapt the annex to the Directive to a European standard developed within CESNI. Such dynamic reference would have given an exclusive decision power to the Council, by-passing the prerogatives of the Parliament as co-legislator. It should be underlined that the international body CESNI is composed only of the EU Member States and Switzerland. It is therefore important that the adaptation of the technical standards through the adoption of delegated acts is maintained. It should also be underlined that the cooperation mechanism with CESNI will have to be reviewed within five years.

Negotiations:

Following the adoption of Parliament’s first reading position on 15 April 2014 and the decision of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) to open negotiations on 26 March 2015, informal negotiations with the view to reach an early second reading agreement took place under the Luxembourg and Dutch Presidencies of the Council. Parliament’s and Council’s negotiating teams reached an agreement on the file on 17 March 2016. The outcome text of negotiations was approved by the TRAN Committee on 7 April 2016. On the basis of the Committee’s approval, the Chair of the TRAN Committee, in his letter to the Committee of Permanent Representatives, indicated that he will recommend to the Plenary to approve the Council’s position at first reading without amendments. Following a legal-linguistic verification, Council adopted its first reading position confirming the agreement of 17 March 2016.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Title	Technical requirements for inland waterway vessels (repealing Directive 2006/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council)
References	07532/2/2016 – C8-0227/2016 – 2013/0302(COD)
Date of Parliament’s first reading – P number	15.4.2014                     T7-0343/2014
Commission proposal	COM(2013)0622 - C7-0266/2013
Receipt of Council position at first reading announced in plenary	22.6.2016
Committee responsible        Date announced in plenary	TRAN 22.6.2016
Rapporteurs        Date appointed	Ivo Belet 22.10.2013
Discussed in committee	11.7.2016
Date adopted	1.9.2016
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	41 1 1
Members present for the final vote	Daniela Aiuto, Lucy Anderson, Inés Ayala Sender, Georges Bach, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Deirdre Clune, Michael Cramer, Andor Deli, Karima Delli, Isabella De Monte, Ismail Ertug, Jacqueline Foster, Tania González Peñas, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Miltiadis Kyrkos, Bogusław Liberadzki, Peter Lundgren, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Georg Mayer, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, Jens Nilsson, Markus Pieper, Salvatore Domenico Pogliese, Gabriele Preuß, Christine Revault D’Allonnes Bonnefoy, Dominique Riquet, Massimiliano Salini, Claudia Țapardel, Keith Taylor, Pavel Telička, István Ujhelyi, Wim van de Camp, Janusz Zemke, Roberts Zīle, Kosma Złotowski, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska
Substitutes present for the final vote	Ivo Belet, Michael Gahler, Karoline Graswander-Hainz, Werner Kuhn, Jozo Radoš, Henna Virkkunen
Substitutes under Rule 200(2) present for the final vote	Urszula Krupa
Date tabled	5.9.2016