The European Commission has recently published a Staff Working Document (SWD (2016) 326) on the implementation of the EU Maritime Transport Strategy 2009-2018. This 2009 Communication outlines the EU goals and recommendations for the Union´s Maritime Transport policy.

The Working Document aims at analysing the current situation of the sector, the implementation of the EU Maritime Transport Strategy and the necessary steps to adapt the EU legislation and initiatives to the goals set in the document. The findings and recommendations included in the Working Document are mainly based on the industry´s answers to the Public Consultation opened by the EU Commission in 2015.

The most relevant points focus on the main concerns for the industry, safety and security, digitalisation and reduction of bureaucracy, sustainability, access to markets and skills and labour conditions, are the following:

- Regarding the Safety and Security areas, the European Commission will evaluate the fitness of the EU legislation, especially in the fields of vessel traffic, monitoring, port State control or flag State responsibilities. Moreover, the EC shall further empower the European Maritime Safety Agency in order to support its legislation enforcement efforts, or even further assistance to national authorities on coast guard functions. Finally, the EC will study establishing a comprehensive framework of security measures on prevention, reaction capacity and resilience.

- Digitalization and simplification is one of the most relevant issues for the industry. The EC has been trying to reduce bureaucratic burdens and create online tools to help the industry to deal with administrative and customs formalities. Among these actions, the EC has developed SafeSeaNet, the Blue Belt initiative or the recently approved Regulation on market access to port services. The European Commission will evaluate during the end of this year the legislative framework on reporting formalities and requirements to identify shortcomings and ways of reducing red tape. Moreover, the EC has recently established a Digital Transport & Logistics Forum which gathers transport operators and national administrations to exchange information and good practice and promote the use of electronic documents. Finally, the EC is in the process of modernizing the State Aid rules to the public financing of infrastructures.

- Concerning the decarbonisation of the sector, the EU, working with the International Maritime Organization has recently adopted a series of measures that have an important impact in the sector. Among other actions, the EU has established new sulphur emission limits, is supporting the deployment of alternative fuels or a has adopted a new strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by monitoring, reporting and verifying CO2 emissions from large ships using EU ports. The EC will keep on working with the IMO and its Member States to adopt a robust system to collect and report fuel consumption of ships at the global scale. If this system entered into force the EU would review its own scheme to align it with the global one. Moreover, the EC is currently studying the removal of obstacles to the adoption of alternative cleaner fuels, such as lack of harmonized standards, lack of knowledge and expertise in this field, etc.

- The industry access to international markets is essential for its competitiveness. The EU is currently negotiating bilateral and multilateral agreements on maritime transport and Free Trade Agreements with several third states. These should grant free access to this sector for the EU industry. Furthermore, the EU is currently supporting the inclusion of the liberalisation of maritime transport services in the negotiation of the TiSA agreement which involves 22 WTO members.

- The EU has implemented a series of actions and legislation in the field of skills and labour conditions which should improve the welfare and safety of workers and help the industry to fill its skill gaps. Currently the EU Commission is evaluating the fitness of several Directives on training and certification and administrative responsibilities of Masters and Senior Officers to check if they are fit to address these important issues.