As regards Regulation (EC) No 725/2004, the Commission should be empowered to decide whether amendments to the Annexes, which concern certain special measures to enhance maritime security of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, and of the International Code for the security of ships and of port facilities, that apply automatically to international traffic should also apply to ships operating domestic services and the port facilities serving them. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of Regulation (EC) No 725/2004, inter alia, by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.
Regulation (EC) No 725/2004 lays down security requirements and measures and is based on international instruments that are subject to amendment. Where, on imperative grounds of urgency, the normal time-limits for the regulatory procedure with scrutiny cannot be complied with, the Commission should be able to have recourse to the urgency procedure provided for in Article 5a(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC.
Accordingly, Regulation (EC) No 725/2004 is hereby amended as follows:
Article 10(2) shall be replaced by the following:
‘2.The Commission shall decide on the integration of amendments to the international instruments referred to in Article 2 in respect of ships operating domestic services and the port facilities serving them to which this Regulation applies, in so far as they constitute a technical update of the provisions of the SOLAS Convention and the ISPS Code. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(4); on imperative grounds of urgency, the Commission may have recourse to the urgency procedure referred to in Article 11(5). The procedure for checking conformity established in paragraph 5 of this Article shall not apply in these cases.’;
Article 10(3) shall be replaced by the following:
‘3.The Commission may adopt provisions in order to define harmonised procedures for the application of the mandatory provisions of the ISPS Code, without broadening the scope of this Regulation. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(4).
On imperative grounds of urgency, the Commission may have recourse to the urgency procedure referred to in Article 11(5).’;
Article 11 shall be replaced by the following:
1.The Commission shall be assisted by a committee.
2.Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at one month.
3.Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 6 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
The periods laid down in Article 6(b) and (c) respectively of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at one month.
4.Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
5.Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1), (2), (4) and (6) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.’.