Single European Transport Area for Shipping (Communication)

Dr. Götz Reichert, LL.M.

The European Commission wants to set up a "Blue Belt" in the seas around Europe. It will strengthen the Single European Transport Area for Shipping by allowing vessels to operate freely inside the EU internal market with a "minimum" of red tape. For this purpose, the existing regular shipping service scheme is to be shortened and simplified and an EU-wide standard electronic cargo manifest ("eManifest") introduced detailing the status of the goods being carried - e.g. origin.

cepPolicyBrief

The creation of a Single European Transport Area for Shipping strengthens the internal market. The administrative burden on shipping companies is reduced by the fact that, when licences for a regular shipping service are issued, shipping companies are able to specify the Member States which they will possibly want to call in at in the future. The introduction of the eManifest significantly reduces the administrative burden and creates a level playing field for the various different modes of transport.

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Single European Transport Area for Shipping COM(2013) 510 (publ. 05.02.2014)	PDF	82 KB	Download