The European Commission decided on September 18th, to refer to the Court of Justice the matter of proceedings against Estonia and the United Kingdom for failing to transpose the European legislation on enhancing port security into national law within the set time limit.

Estonia has not notified a single national measure transposing the Directive on enhancing port security, while the United Kingdom is being referred to the Court for incomplete transposition, since it is only in Gibraltar that the Directive has been transposed. In these two Member States the definitive transposition measures are in preparation but have not yet been finally adopted.

The Member States should have transposed Directive 2005/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on enhancing port security, by 15 June 2007 at the latest.

The aim of this Directive is to establish a Community framework for the security of all port areas. It complements instruments already in force since 2004 which apply only to ships and port terminals. It sets out common basic rules for measures intended to prevent deliberate illegal acts against ports and various parts of them, as well as defining mechanisms for implementing these measures and for checking their conformity.