The
European Maritime Safety Agency (
EMSA) is a
European Union agencyAn agency of the European Union are decentralised bodies of the European Union , which are distinct from the institutions. Agencies are established to accomplish specific tasks. Each agency has its own legal personality...
charged with reducing the risk of
maritime accidentsA shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, it having either been sunk or beached. A shipwreck can refer to a wrecked ship or to the event that caused the wreck, such as the striking of something that causes the ship to sink, the stranding of the ship on rocks, land or shoal, or the...
,
marine pollutionMarine pollution occurs when harmful effects, or potentially harmful effects, can result from the entry into the ocean of chemicals, particles, industrial, agricultural and residential waste, or the spread of invasive organisms....
from ships and the
loss of human lives at seaSearch and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.-Definitions of Search and Rescue:There are many different definitions of search and rescue, depending on the agency involved....
by helping to enforce the pertinent European Community legislation. It is headquartered in
LisbonLisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and the main city of the Lisbon region...
.
EMSA has the following mission:
- assist the Commission
The European Commission acts as an executive of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union.The Commission operates in the method of cabinet government, with 27...
in preparing Community legislation in the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships
- assist the Commission in the effective implementation of Community legislation on maritime safety and maritime security, in particular by monitoring the overall functioning of the Community port State control regime,
- organise training activities, develop technical solutions and provide technical assistance related to the implementation of Community legislation
- help develop a common methodology for investigating maritime accidents
- provide data on maritime safety and on pollution by ships and help improve the identification and pursuit of ships making unlawful discharges
In doing so, EMSA closely cooperates with the Member States' maritime services.
EMSA was founded in 2002, after the
European CommunitiesThe European Communities were three international organisations that were governed by the same set of institutions...
adopted substantial packages of legislation relating to maritime security in the wake of major shipping disasters in European waters, such as those involving the ferry
EstoniaMS Estonia, previously MS Viking Sally , MS Silja Star , and MS Wasa King , was a cruiseferry built in 1980 at the German shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg...
and the oil tankers
ErikaErika was the name of an tanker built in 1975 and last chartered by Total-Fina-Elf. She sank off the coast of France in 1999, causing one of the greatest environmental disasters in the world.Erika was one of eight sister ships built in Japan...
and
PrestigeThe Prestige was an oil tanker whose sinking in 2002 off the Galician coast caused a large oil spill. The spill polluted thousands of kilometers of coastline and more than one thousand beaches on the Spanish and French coast, as well as causing great damage to the local fishing industry...
.
The
European Maritime Safety Agency (
EMSA) is a
European Union agencyAn agency of the European Union are decentralised bodies of the European Union , which are distinct from the institutions. Agencies are established to accomplish specific tasks. Each agency has its own legal personality...
charged with reducing the risk of
maritime accidentsA shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, it having either been sunk or beached. A shipwreck can refer to a wrecked ship or to the event that caused the wreck, such as the striking of something that causes the ship to sink, the stranding of the ship on rocks, land or shoal, or the...
,
marine pollutionMarine pollution occurs when harmful effects, or potentially harmful effects, can result from the entry into the ocean of chemicals, particles, industrial, agricultural and residential waste, or the spread of invasive organisms....
from ships and the
loss of human lives at seaSearch and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.-Definitions of Search and Rescue:There are many different definitions of search and rescue, depending on the agency involved....
by helping to enforce the pertinent European Community legislation. It is headquartered in
LisbonLisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and the main city of the Lisbon region...
.
Mission
EMSA has the following mission:
- assist the Commission
The European Commission acts as an executive of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union.The Commission operates in the method of cabinet government, with 27...
in preparing Community legislation in the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships
- assist the Commission in the effective implementation of Community legislation on maritime safety and maritime security, in particular by monitoring the overall functioning of the Community port State control regime,
- organise training activities, develop technical solutions and provide technical assistance related to the implementation of Community legislation
- help develop a common methodology for investigating maritime accidents
- provide data on maritime safety and on pollution by ships and help improve the identification and pursuit of ships making unlawful discharges
In doing so, EMSA closely cooperates with the Member States' maritime services.
History and structure
EMSA was founded in 2002, after the
European CommunitiesThe European Communities were three international organisations that were governed by the same set of institutions...
adopted substantial packages of legislation relating to maritime security in the wake of major shipping disasters in European waters, such as those involving the ferry
EstoniaMS Estonia, previously MS Viking Sally , MS Silja Star , and MS Wasa King , was a cruiseferry built in 1980 at the German shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg...
and the oil tankers
ErikaErika was the name of an tanker built in 1975 and last chartered by Total-Fina-Elf. She sank off the coast of France in 1999, causing one of the greatest environmental disasters in the world.Erika was one of eight sister ships built in Japan...
and
PrestigeThe Prestige was an oil tanker whose sinking in 2002 off the Galician coast caused a large oil spill. The spill polluted thousands of kilometers of coastline and more than one thousand beaches on the Spanish and French coast, as well as causing great damage to the local fishing industry...
. It was felt that a specialised technical agency was necessary to overview the enforcement of this legislation and help in its implementation.
EMSA is headquartered in
LisbonLisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and the main city of the Lisbon region...
,
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
, and moved in June 2009 to new, purpose-built premises near Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon. It has a staff of just under 200 and operates a small network (at the end of 2009, 16 vessels) of stand-by oil recovery vessels contracted from the commercial sector, designed to provide top-up capacity to Member States' own response resources. Its Executive Director is Willem de Ruiter.
The 2008 budget for EMSA was just over
EURThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
50,000,000, of which over a third, EUR 18,000,000 is specifically used for at sea pollution response tasks.
Coast Guard aspirations?
In May 2006, the conservative British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported that the Commission supposedly considered proposing to transform EMSA into a European
coast guardA coast guard or coastguard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries.-Role:...
, although the specifics of that proposed role were not reported. The paper cited critics who worried that this move would introduce a European navy by way of the back door, compromising Member States' sovereignty in defence matters.
External links