On the 22nd July the Official Journal of the European Union has published the Common Position (EC) No 15/2008 adopted by the Council on 6 June 2008 with a view to adopting Directive about establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector and amending Directives 1999/35/EC and 2002/59/EC

The purpose of the Directive is to improve maritime safety and the prevention of pollution by ships, and so reduce the risk of future marine casualties, by:

• Facilitating the expeditious holding of safety investigations and proper analysis of marine casualties and incidents in order to determine their causes.
• Ensuring the timely and accurate reporting of safety investigations and proposals for remedial action.

The Directive apply to marine casualties and incidents that:

1. Involve ships flying the flag of one of the Member States.
2. Occur within Member States' territorial sea and internal waters as defined in UNCLOS.
3. Involve other substantial interests of the Member States.

The Directive do not apply to marine casualties and incidents involving only:

1. Ships of war and troop ships and other ships owned or operated by a Member State and used only on government non-commercial service.
2. Ships not propelled by mechanical means, wooden ships of primitive build, pleasure yachts and pleasure craft not engaged in trade, unless they are or will be crewed and carrying more than 12 passengers for commercial purposes.
3. Inland waterway vessels operating in inland waterways.
4. Fishing vessels with a length of less than 15 metres.
5. Fixed offshore drilling units.

The Common Position is complementary to the 15/2008 Common Position adopted also by the Council on 6 June 2008 with a view to adopting Directive about  Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system.