Republic of Croatia

Ministry of Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development

Programme: PHARE 2005

Partner Country: Croatia

Area of Cooperation: Sectoral Policies - Transport

PHARE TWINNING PROJECT FICHE

Institutional Capacity Building in the Field of Maritime Safety

Project budget: € 600.000

1. BASIC INFORMATION

1.1 Twinning Number: HR/2005/IB/TR/01

1.2 Title: Institutional Capacity Building in the Field of Maritime Safety

1.3 Location: CROATIA- Maritime Transport, Maritime Domain and Ports Directorate and Maritime Safety and Marine Environment Protection Directorate of the Ministry of Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development of the Republic of Croatia in Zagreb including Maritime Search and Rescue Centre Rijeka (MRCC) and Harbourmaster’s Offices

2. OBJECTIVES

2.1 Overall Objective(s):

The overall objective is to improve the maritime safety and prevention of pollution from ships through the implementation of a national Pre-Accession Maritime Transport Strategy in line with the related EU acquis and to enable full participation of Croatia in the requirements of the EU Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system

2.2 Project purpose:

Enhancement of administrative and technical efficiency of Maritime Administration in monitoring and management of vessels with a special regard to vessels carrying dangerous and polluting goods.

2.3 Contribution to National Development Plan/Cooperation agreement

NPIEU 2006

3.14.6. MARITIME TRANSPORT- Mid-term Priorities in Harmonising Legislation (Accession Partnership) - Projections for 2007 and 2008

In 2007 relevant regulations will be adopted which will implement measures and obligations arising from the implementation of Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system and repealing Council Directive 93/75/EEC in the part which does not require full completion of the Croatian vessel traffi c monitoring and information system (CVTMIS system) as e.g. Voyage Data Recorders on certain groups of vessels, designating refuge ports, and designating and publishing the list of authorised bodies.

4.2.14. TRANSPORT POLICY- 4.2.14.2. Activities Planned for 2006

In accordance with Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system and on repealing Council Directive 93/75/EEC, the implementation of the project “Maritime Safety: Enforcement of Administrative Capacity - Monitoring and Management of Vessels (total value 2.55 million EUR), which will be carried out under the PHARE 2005 programme of preaccession assistance, and which this twinning contract is part of, has begun at the start of 2006. The project also provides for the rounding off of the existing Automatic Ship Identification System by setting up and integrating 13 additional radio-communication stations along the Adriatic coast and other information communication equipment worth 1.5 million EUR (1.1 million EUR co-financed from the PHARE programme), as well as for the drawing up of a study concerning further development of the system worth 0.45 million EUR (fully financed from the PHARE programme).

The programming and drafting of the project proposal (Project Fiche) and accompanying documentation for the project “Maritime Safety: Enforcement of Administrative Capacity – Monitoring and Management of Vessels – PHASE 2 (total value of 6.1 million) will also continue throughout 2006. The project will be realised within the PHARE 2006 programme of preaccession assistance and with 3.1 million EUR within the PHARE or any other corresponding programme for 2007 (IPA Programme). This project provides for the rounding off of the Croatian Vessel Traffic Monitoring and Information System (CVTMIS) with radar, goniometric, communication and energetic subsystems, as well as with the seafarers' weather forecast subsystem. It also provides for the introduction of improvements within the system of education of inspectors carrying out inspection of the national fleet. In October 2005 the European Commission preliminarily recognised the project as a priority. The completion of both stages of the project by the end of 2009 will result in the establishment of an organisation and technological system for monitoring the overall maritime transport in internal sea waters, territorial sea and the protected ecological and fishing zone of the Republic of Croatia which will result in a reduction of accidents at sea, better results in search and rescue operations at sea, the reduction of ship-generated pollution of sea, and which will also enable data exchange with the corresponding European Commission bodies. The information-communications System (CVTMIS), as a part of an integrated maritime information system, will, concerning the possibility of data exchange, be harmonised with the requirements to be established by the European Maritime Safety Agency, as provided for in Regulation (EC) No1406/2002 establishing a European Maritime Safety Agency.

3. DESCRIPTION

3.1 Background and justification:

In respect of the EU policy papers the Project Fiche is based on the Commission White Paper on the European transport policy, in general, and on the Directive 2002/59/EC establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system and repealing Council Directive 93/75/EEC, in particular. Beside these two basic documents, the Project Fiche takes into account all other legal sources as enumerated in the Article 2 of the Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 establishing a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) and amending the Regulations on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 415/2004. It is assumed that project outcomes will take into account and implement any subsequent amendments of documents enlisted in the Article 2 paragraph 2 of the mentioned Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 as well as any other changes of the relevant international instruments.

Safety at sea, pollution prevention and consequently, the preservation of biological diversity of the Adriatic Sea are condition sine qua non of sustainable development of the Republic of Croatia. The primary responsibility for execution of these tasks lies mainly with Ministry of Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development (MSTTD) as a recognized Maritime Administration. Apart from organizational aspects, the efficiency of an administration lies upon its three main components: personnel, equipment and operational proficiency.

The most notable strength of the Croatian Maritime Administration is traditionally high level of education and training of its personnel. Consequently, it can be concluded that existing level of education and training, apart from highly specialized training that could be required to operate some sophisticated equipment, satisfies present and near-future needs.

On the other side, the weaknesses identified in the past mainly relate to equipment and operational proficiency. In respect of operational proficiency, considerable drawbacks were noticed within the area of administrative work in the field and in cases of high complexity tasks requiring cooperation with other governmental and non-governmental services.

On the other hand, inevitable increase of maritime traffic volume in the Adriatic Sea, particularly the traffic of ships carrying dangerous goods and marine pollutants, can be expected in the near future. In that respect, the impact of motorways of the sea provided for in the Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (Decision No 884/2004/EC amending Decision No 1692/96/EC) must be taken into account. Consequently, the most important activities, the systematic monitoring of vessel movements and their physical and information tracking, will become much more important and will have to cover the significant part of the Adriatic Sea. In that case, the major constraints to be expected are lack of equipment (as required by Directive 2003/59/EC) and inability of presently existing organizational and operational structure of the Maritime Administration to provide sufficient level of support required by newly created workload, obligations and responsibilities.

Still, the opportunities to enhance the administrative and technical efficiency of Maritime Administration are several. The most notable is cooperation with comparable administrations from the EU in order to share and/or transfer experiences regarding organizational structure, institutional cooperation and information support. The next step is to set up the essential equipment and required know-how necessary to monitor areas of the Adriatic Sea where increase of traffic volume is expected and actually occurring and to connect the pertinent information system with systems of other adjacent EU countries.

The government’s policy in the sector is broadly outlined in several official documents. The most prominent is The Program of the Government of the Republic of Croatia for the 2003-2007 mandate, 23 December 2003, where comprehensive programme for the protection of the Adriatic Sea in accordance with the standards and regulations of the European Union and international law is proclaimed. The project is part of an existing long-term programme initiated by the Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development (MSTTD) and laid down as a mid-term priority in the National Programme for the Integration of the Republic of Croatia into the European Union 2004 and 2005 which aims at reaching Member States practices in the field of maritime safety and marine pollution prevention by the time of accession.

Notwithstanding mentioned documents as well as numerous stand-alone actions carried out by responsible Ministry and government agencies, the clearly articulated sector strategic approach is envisaged by the Pre-accession Maritime Transport Strategy as well as the VTMIS Development Strategy delivered in accordance with the Opinion on Croatia's Application for Membership of the European Union -COM(2004) 257 final -Brussels, 20 April 2004 and the Report on gaps and needs analysis in the sector of maritime transport drafted with technical assistance within Administrative Capacity Building/Project Preparation Facility-CARDS 2004.

The project is specifically defined as a high level priority in the section 2.3.2.- lines 5,7 and 8 of the Pre-accession Maritime Transport Strategy.

Report on gaps and needs analysis in the sector of maritime transport and Pre-Accesion Maritime Transport Strategy as well as VTMIS Development Strategy are documents defining the multi-annual approach towards the achievement of the overall objective of the project.

Through analysis of mentioned strategic documents number of projects is identified to be possibly co-financed with PHARE or similar in the future including possible continuation of activities on the development and upgrade of VTMIS System with co-financing through PHARE 2006 in line with VTMIS Development Strategy.

Therefore, the results and activities of the present Twinning Fiche are fully in line with the mid-, and long-term development concepts of the MSTTD and its law enforcement structures, and the development of this Twinning Fiche was also done on the basis of these strategies and plans. Namely, Pre-Accession Maritime Transport Strategy and VTMIS Development Strategy.

Legislation harmonization

With the aim of protection of the sea from pollution, the Act on the Gradual Phasing-Out of Single-Hull Oil Tankers, which is completely harmonized with the relevant EU regulations, was adopted in 2004.

Technical standards concerning devices and equipment in accordance with the EU standards and the SOLAS convention (VDR system) have been applied on ships engaged in international navigation.

The EU has in place legislation regarding the sulphur content in Marine fuels and will soon adopt an amendment to it in order to expedite the reduction of harmful emissions. The Republic of Croatia is in the process of ratifying Annex VI of MARPOL 73/78.

Ordinance on transport, handling, loading and unloading of dangerous substances and manner of prevention of spreading of run out oil in ports has been delivered in April 2005. This regulation is fully approximated with Council Resolution of 8 June 1993 on a common policy on safe seas, Council Directive 93/75/EEC of 13 September 1993 concerning minimum requirements for vessels bound for or leaving Community ports and carrying dangerous or polluting goods, Decision No 2850/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2000 setting up a Community framework for cooperation in the field of accidental or deliberate marine pollution, 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 (Text with EEA relevance), Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system and repealing Council Directive 93/75/EEC, Regulation (EC) No 417/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 February 2002 on the accelerated phasing-in of double hull or equivalent design requirements for single hull oil tankers and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2978/94, Regulation (EC) No 1726/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 417/2002 on the accelerated phasing-in of double-hull or equivalent design requirements for single-hull oil tankers, Regulation (EC) No 2099/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 establishing a Committee on Safe Seas and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (COSS) and amending the Regulations on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships as well as Directive 2002/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 amending the Directives on maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships (Text with EEA relevance).

The purpose of the project is to enhance administrative and technical efficiency of Maritime Administration in monitoring and management of vessels within Adriatic Sea area, with a special regard to vessels carrying dangerous and polluting goods.

In particular, the following specific objectives are defined:

-  Implementation of Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system and repealing Council Directive 93/75/EEC,

-  Improving the response of authorities to accidents and incidents at sea,

-  Facilitating search and rescue operations at sea,

-  Contributing to a better prevention and detection of pollution by ships,

-  Assisting in the development of an effective Vessel Traffic Monitoring and Information System (VTMIS) as a Coastal VTS mainly concerned with vessel traffic passing through a sea area,

-  Continuing the transposition of the acquis communautaire in the field of maritime safety and in particular the Directives linked to the vessel traffic monitoring and information system,

-  Enhancing the efficiency of maritime traffic in the Adriatic Sea contributing to a better development of Short Sea Shipping and Motorways of the Sea.

Involvement of Stakeholders and Civil Society in the programming process