EU Member States Push to End Reporting Burdens for Ships

Thirteen EU Member States, led by Denmark, have called on the European Commission to present an ambitious proposal on revising the Reporting Formalities Directive.

The current directive introduced the National Single Windows as a way to harmonise reporting obligations from ships into a single electronic system in Member States, but has instead created more burdens on ship operators in EU, according to Danish Shipping.

The Member States belong to the group of ambitious countries willing to make right on the original objective of simplification and to lead on the creation of an Internal Market for shipping in the EU.

In an official letter to the Commission they want to “unleash the significant potential for simplification and harmonization by making the Directive future proof and fit for the digital age by making better use of existing data sources and automation of administrative processes.”

Captains and ship operators are required to report the same data over and over and in different formats for every EU-port. Sometimes even differently in ports in the same country. The push by the Member States will create a much needed momentum, Danish Shipping added.

“We are extremely happy to see a big group of member states willing to properly address an issue that produces great frustrations in the industry,” said director of EU-Affairs Casper Andersen of Danish Shipping.

The Commission proposal is set for publication on May 2.