The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is a European Union agency charged with reducing the risk of maritime accidents,

marine pollution Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there. The major ...

from ships and the loss of human lives at sea by helping to enforce the pertinent EU legislation. It is headquartered in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

Mission

EMSA has the following mission: * assist the Commission in preparing EU legislation in the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships * assist the Commission in the effective implementation of EU legislation on maritime safety and maritime security, in particular by monitoring the overall functioning of the EU port State control regime, * organise training activities, develop technical solutions and provide technical assistance related to the implementation of EU legislation * help develop a common methodology for investigating maritime accidents * provide data on maritime safety and on pollution by ships and help improve the identification and pursuit of ships making unlawful discharges In doing so, EMSA closely cooperates with the Member States' maritime services.

History and structure

EMSA was founded in 2002, after the EU adopted substantial packages of legislation relating to maritime security in the wake of major shipping disasters in European waters, such as those involving the ferry

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

and the oil tankers Erika and

Prestige Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...

. It was felt that a specialised technical agency was necessary to overview the enforcement of this legislation and help in its implementation. EMSA is headquartered in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

, and moved in June 2009 to new, purpose-built premises near Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon. It has a staff of just under 200 and operates a small network (at the end of 2009, 16 vessels) of stand-by oil recovery vessels contracted from the commercial sector, designed to provide top-up capacity to Member States' own response resources. Its Executive Director, since 2012, is Markku Mylly from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. The 2008 budget for EMSA was just over EUR 50,000,000, of which over a third, EUR 18,000,000 is specifically used for at sea pollution response tasks.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Agencies of the European Union Coast guards 2002 establishments in Portugal Government agencies established in 2002 Maritime safety in Europe Organisations based in Lisbon Transport and the European Union 2002 in the European Union

Mission

History and structure

See also

References

External links