Brussels to impose curbs on Hellenic Register
17 / 03 / 2009
Justin Stares, Brussels – Wednesday 4 March 2009
BRUSSELS is planning to prevent Greece’s Hellenic Register from taking on new business while it seeks to regain full European Union recognition, it has been revealed.
European Union member states decided last week to give the classification society 17 months to resolve “quality” issues and to forbid it from [...]
Justin Stares, Brussels – Wednesday 4 March 2009
BRUSSELS is planning to prevent Greece’s Hellenic Register from taking on new business while it seeks to regain full European Union recognition, it has been revealed.
European Union member states decided last week to give the classification society 17 months to resolve “quality” issues and to forbid it from classing new ships.
The meeting of the EU’s Committee on Safety at Sea, which took place last Monday, followed Hellenic’s suspension as a recognised organisation last year.
The company’s fate has been in limbo since then, as EU de-recognition limits its ability to renew certification.
Sources familiar with the latest Brussels discussions said the measures agreed, which still need to be confirmed, were “very tough”.
Hellenic said today it would fight the restriction on new business. A company executive speaking on condition of anonymity said “the EU has no right to impose such a condition”.
The European Commission, which has the final say, would be lobbied with a view to having it eased, he said.
Other conditions are to be imposed, it was revealed. While Hellenic will continue to be able to issue certificates to its current fleet, it will not be able to use its representatives outside Greece, who will be brought back to headquarters for training over the next few months. While this happens, representatives will be sent overseas from Greece, Hellenic said. The company has offices in Malta, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
An outside body will be asked to perform a “risk assessment” of the Hellenic-classed fleet, the results of which will determine if ships need to be undergo a new survey.
One source suggested the entire fleet would need to be re-surveyed, though the company denied this.
An external body, possibly the International Association of Classification Societies, will be brought in to oversee training, it was reported.
There has been no public statement on Hellenic by the EU at any stage. The Coss committee is understood to have discussed Hellenic at least twice since the original suspension, though despite EU claims of openness and transparency, requests by Lloyd’s List for a copy of minutes of the meetings have been denied. The commission on one occasion claimed no minutes had been taken.
The commission again refused to discuss the matter today, saying only that it would be finalising its decision within about a month. A commission spokesman said the European parliament still needed to be informed of the Coss discussions, a process known in EU jargon as a ‘droit de regard.’
“Procedurally, we still have to wait for the European Parliament’s droit de regard, so I cannot say what the decision was,” said the Brussels transport spokesman. “The Commission will then decide on the basis of the [Coss] committee’s opinion. This process is expected to be completed roughly in a month’s time.”
The final timing will depend on how quickly the texts can be translated into all the official EU languages, he added.
Both the Greek authorities and the Lisbon-based European Maritime Safety Agency have audited Hellenic in recent months as the company has sought to avoid a lengthy period of de-recognition. The “quality” issues raised are thought to include inadequate training of inspectors and therefore inadequate inspections of the large Greek ferry fleet, which transport hundreds of thousands of tourists between the Greek mainland and Mediterranean islands every summer.
The Coss committee, which comprises EU member states, is part of the complex ‘commitology’ procedure by which EU law is implemented.
Source: Brussels to impose curbs on Hellenic Register
17 / 03 / 2009 | Tags: Balkans, EU maritime policies, Europe, Hellenic Register |
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