CHAPTER 2

UNION CERTIFICATES OF QUALIFICATION

Stretches of inland waterways with specific risks
Article 9
1
Where necessary to ensure safety of navigation, Member States may identify stretches of inland waterways with specific risks which run through their own territories, in accordance with the procedure set out in paragraphs 2 to 4, where such risks are due to one or more of the following reasons:
a
frequently changing stream patterns and speed;
b
the hydro-morphological characteristics of the inland waterway and the absence of appropriate Fairway Information Services on the inland waterway or of suitable charts;
c
the presence of a specific local traffic regulation justified by specific hydro-morphological characteristics of the inland waterway; or
d
a high frequency of accidents at a specific stretch of the inland waterway that is attributed to the lack of a competence that is not covered by the standards referred to in Article 17.
Where Member States consider it to be necessary to ensure safety, they shall consult the relevant European River Commission during the process of identifying the stretches referred to in the first subparagraph.
2
Member States shall notify the Commission of the measures they intend to adopt pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article and to Article 20, together with the reasoning on which the measure is based, at least six months before the envisaged date of adoption of those measures.
3
Where stretches of inland waterways referred to in paragraph 1 are situated along the border between two or more Member States, the Member States concerned shall consult one another and notify the Commission jointly.
4
Where a Member State intends to adopt a measure that is not justified in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, the Commission may, within a period of six months from the notification, adopt implementing acts setting out its decision opposing the adoption of the measure. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 33(3).
5
The Commission shall make the measures adopted by the Member States publicly available, together with the reasoning referred to in paragraph 2.