Within the framework of the common transport policy measures must be adopted to enhance safety in maritime transport.

The Community is seriously concerned about shipping casualties in which passenger ships were involved resulting in a massive loss of life. Persons using passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft throughout the Community have the right to expect and to rely on an appropriate level of safety on board.

To attain a high level of safety, and to remove barriers to trade, it is necessary to establish harmonised safety standards at an appropriate level for passenger ships and craft operating domestic services. Standards for vessels operating international voyages are being developed within the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Procedures to request action at the IMO in order to bring the standards for international voyages into line with the standards of this Directive should be available.

In view, in particular, of the internal market dimension of maritime passenger transport, action at Community level is the only possible way to establish a common level of safety for ships throughout the Community.

In view of the principle of proportionality, a Directive is the appropriate legal instrument as it provides a framework for a uniform and compulsory application of the safety standards by Member States, while leaving to each Member State the right to decide the implementation tools that best fit its internal system.

In the interests of improving safety and avoiding distortions of competition the common safety requirements should apply to passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft engaged on domestic voyages in the Community, irrespective of the flag they fly. It is, however, necessary to exclude some categories of ships for which the rules of this Directive are technically unsuitable or economically unviable.

Passenger ships should be divided into different classes depending upon the range and conditions of the sea areas in which they operate. High-speed passenger craft should be categorised in accordance with the provisions of the High-Speed Craft Code established by the IMO.

The main reference framework for the safety standards should be the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (the 1974 SOLAS Convention), as amended, which encompasses internationally agreed standards for passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft engaged on international voyages, as well as appropriate Resolutions adopted by the IMO and other measures complementing and interpreting that Convention.

The various classes of both new and existing passenger ships require a different approach for establishing safety requirements guaranteeing an equivalent safety level in view of the specific needs and limitations of those various classes. It is appropriate to make distinctions in the safety requirements to be respected as between new and existing ships since imposing the rules for new ships on existing ships would involve such extensive structural changes as to make them economically unviable.

The financial and technical implications arising from the upgrading of existing ships to the standards provided for by this Directive justify certain transitional periods.

In view of the substantial differences in the design, construction and use of high-speed passenger craft compared to traditional passenger ships, such craft should be required to respect special rules.

It is important to apply appropriate measures to ensure access in safe conditions for persons with reduced mobility to passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft operating on domestic services in the Member States.

Subject to control under the Committee procedure, Member States may adopt additional safety requirements if justified by local circumstances, permit the use of equivalent standards, or adopt exemptions from the provisions of this Directive under certain operating conditions, or adopt safeguard measures in exceptional dangerous circumstances.

In particular, the Commission should be empowered to adapt certain provisions of this Directive, including its Annexes, to take account of developments at international level and specifically amendments to International Conventions. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

In order to monitor the effective implementation and enforcement of this Directive, surveys should be carried out on new and existing passenger ships and craft. Compliance with this Directive should be certified by or on behalf of the Administration of the flag State.

The new elements introduced into this Directive only concern the committee procedures. They therefore do not need to be transposed by the Member States.

This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limits for transposition into national law and application of the Directives set out in Annex IV, Part B,