European Maritime Safety Agency - EMSA
European Maritime Safety Agency (the Agency) is the technical body providing the European Community with the necessary means to act effectively to enhance overall maritime safety and ship pollution prevention rules. The Agency assists the Commission in the continuous process of updating and developing Community legislation in the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships and provides the necessary support to ensure the convergent and effective implementation of such legislation throughout the Community by assisting the Commission in performing the tasks assigned to the latter by existing and future Community legislation on maritime safety and ship pollution prevention.
Further information about EMSA
The Agency carries out a number of other important tasks aimed at enhancing maritime safety and ship pollution prevention in the waters of the Member States. In this respect, the Agency works with Member States to organise appropriate training activities on port State control and flag State related issues and to provide technical assistance related to the implementation of Community legislation. It facilitates cooperation between the Member States and the Commission as provided for in 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, namely by developing and operating any information system necessary for the objectives of that Directive, and in the activities concerning the investigations related to serious maritime accidents. It provides the Commission and the Member States with objective, reliable and comparable information and data on maritime safety and on ship pollution prevention to enable them to take any necessary initiatives to enhance the measures in place and to evaluate their effectiveness. It places the Community maritime safety know-how at the disposal of the States applying for accession. It should be open to the participation of these States and to other third countries which have concluded agreements with the Community whereby they adopt and implement Community legislation in the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships.
The Agency favors the establishment of better cooperation between the Member States and develops and disseminates best practices in the Community. This in turn contributes to enhancing the overall maritime safety system in the Community as well as reducing the risk of maritime accidents, marine pollution and the loss of human lives at sea.
In order properly to carry out the tasks entrusted to the Agency, its officials carry out visits to the Member States in order to monitor the overall functioning of the Community maritime safety and ship pollution prevention system. The visits are carried out in accordance with a policy established by the Agency's Administrative Board and is facilitated by the authorities of the Member States.
