The European Commission’s role in marine materials, equipment and components certification mutualisation

The European Commission in the past has updated the regulations regarding marine operations in order to enhance safety and protection of the environment. In that respect and with the scope to enhance safety onboard ships, Regulation No 391/2009 and in particular Article 10 on certification of ships suggested that EU Recognised Organisations (EU ROs) should harmonise their rules and procedures related to certification of materials, equipment and components based on equivalent standards issued by them. As a result the EU ROs Mutual Recognition (MR) scheme was initiated. This article investigates the current implementation of the requirements of Article 10 through the developed questionnaire and case studies. The results have shown that while safety is considered at the highest level, the current implementation needs further improvement and harmonisation of individual rules which can be delivered as the process matures. Additional information and dissemination of the overall MR process is also required engaging all marine industry. The current implementation is regarded as acceptable; however, the expansion of the scheme is a cause for concern. Finally, global acceptance of the MR scheme remains a challenge to be overcome