The Council of the European Union reports that it has reached consensus on a general approach for a proposal to bring together all reporting formalities associated with a port call, under a system called a European maritime single window.
“A single reporting window for ships will significantly reduce the administrative burden on maritime transport,” said Norbert Hofer, Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology of Austria, and President of the Council.
“We are creating conditions for increased application of the ‘once-only’ principle, so that ships would only need to report once per port call and the same information would be reused for subsequent port calls within the EU.”
The European maritime single window environment aims to address the issue of having numerous, non-harmonised reporting obligations by linking the existing national maritime single windows together in a coordinated way.
Doing so would improve interoperability between various systems, making it much easier to share and reuse data, creating a more streamlined digital reporting system that could drive improvements in the competitiveness of the shipping sector compared to other means of transport.
The general approach approved by the Council constitutes its position for negotiations with the European Parliament. Both institutions must agree on the final text for the initiative to move forward.
