EU Cuts Red Tape for Ships

The last Trilogue negotiation between the Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament on the “European Maritime Single Window environment”, (EMSWe) took place in Brussels.

The EU is streamlining its ship reporting systems by creating a EMSWe, which will bring together all reporting formalities associated with a port call.

The final text contains a compromise that provides security for Port Community Systems in relation to the public National Single Windows that have to act as access points at the national level for all reporting formalities.

Port Community Systems that meet the requirements of the European reporting interface module must be allowed by member states as additional reporting systems. This was an important condition for the Port of Rotterdam in the discussion on the EU single window file.

On the basis of the final text, which still has to be published, we will examine the consequences of the EMSWe Regulation for the reporting process in European ports and discuss this with, among others, the ministry responsible for the implementation at Member State level.

The European maritime single window environment will link the existing national maritime single windows together in a coordinated and harmonized way. The reform will improve interoperability between various systems, making it easier to share and reuse data.

The new rules will also encourage digitalization and application of the once-only principle, so that information reported once can be reused for subsequent port calls within the EU.

For the Port of Rotterdam and other major ports in Europe, it was of great importance that investments in existing Port Community Systems (Portbase) and port call optimization processes would not be affected.

The Romanian presidency and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on this reform, which will significantly reduce the administrative burden on the shipping sector and improve its competitiveness compared to other means of transport. The agreement will now be submitted to member states' representatives in the Council for endorsement.