Reporting formalities for ships

This directive aims to simplify the reporting formalities to be fulfilled by ships calling at ports by harmonising the reporting formalities.

ACT

Directive 2002/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 February 2002 on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from ports of the Member States of the Community [Official Journal L 67 of 09.03.2002].

SUMMARY

The public authorities frequently require, on a ship's arrival and/or departure, documents and information relating, inter alia, to the ship, its stores, its crew's effects, its crew and passengers. These requirements are formalities that ships have to fulfil when calling at ports.

The use of different document formats for the same or similar purposes complicates maritime transport and, in particular, short sea shipping. The Convention on International Facilitation of Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) came into force on 5 March 1967. However, most of the Member States use forms to facilitate traffic, but do not use the IMO models in a uniform manner.

The Directive addresses Community recognition of standardised IMO FAL forms which make it possible to obtain all the necessary information regarding a ship's arrival and departure in document form.

The list of forms is as follows:

• IMO FAL No 1 General declaration: this declaration is the basic document for arrival and departure to provide the information required by the authorities of a Member State about the ship;
• IMO FAL No 3 Ship's stores declaration: this declaration is the basic document for arrival and departure to provide the information required by the authorities of a Member State about the ship's stores;
• IMO FAL No 4 Crew's effects declaration: this declaration is the basic document for arrival to provide the information required by the authorities of a Member State. It is not required on departure;
• IMO FAL No 5 Crew list: the crew list is the basic document to provide the information required by the authorities of a Member State about the number of crew and the crew's composition on arrival and departure of the ship;
• IMO FAL No 6 Passenger list: this is the list for ships certified to carry up to 12 passengers and is the basic document to provide the authorities of a Member State with information about the passengers on arrival and departure of the ship. The Commission does not propose harmonisation with the IMO FAL Convention (form No 2) as regards the cargo declaration since this document is normally replaced by cargo manifests which are valid for commercial purposes and for official checks.The Member States will not be able to require categories of information other than those provided for in the relevant IMO FAL forms, or require other documents or formats to satisfy the particular formalities for which the FAL forms are intended. The Member States will also have to accept the forms signed by the signatories indicated in the IMO FAL Convention.The Member States may, on the other hand, ask for information relating to other topics and formalities in other formats, as long as the subjects and formalities in question are not covered by the IMO FAL forms covered by the Directive, in particular information pertaining to registry, measurement, safety, crew, cargo carried and customs procedures.The Directive applies to all ships arriving in or departing from a Community port, irrespective of flag or trade.

REFERENCES

Last updated: 19.07.2006