The European Parliament and Council Directive 2005/35/EC of 7 September 2005, as amended by Directive 2009/123/EC of 21 October 2009 “on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of penalties, including criminal penalties, for pollution offences”, states that the European Maritime Safety Agency shall:

(a) ‘work with the Member States in developing technical solutions and providing technical assistance …in actions such as tracing discharges by satellite monitoring and surveillance’;

(b) ‘assist the Commission in the implementation of this Directive’ including, if appropriate, by means of visits to the Member States, in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002’.

The Directive recognises that EMSA ‘has a key role to play in working with the Member States in developing technical solutions and providing technical assistance relating to the implementation of this Directive and in assisting the Commission in the performance of any task assigned to it for the effective implementation of this Directive’.