Background
To avoid a second reading, the Transport Committee refrained from tabling substantive amendments. It agreed with the bulk of the Commission's proposals (seeEURACTIV 31 March 2003), and merely called for another category of vessel to be phased out more quickly. According to the amendment, smaller tankers that are often operating in regional traffic would have to be phased out by 2010 instead of 2015.
Controversial issues such as the disposal of single hull vessels, the definition of heavy oil, the need for places of refuge and the legality of unilateral EU action are not addressed in the report. However, the Committee insisted that the Commission be given a clearly defined mandate to negotiate the new rules at international level at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
The report will be voted in plenary during the 2-5 June session in Strasbourg. The new rules are likely to enter into force on 1 August 2003.
