(www.MaritimeCyprus.com) The idea of a European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) originated in the late 1990s along with a number of other important European maritime safety initiatives. EMSA was set up as a regulatory agency that would provide a major source of support to the European Commission and the member states in the field of maritime safety, security and prevention of pollution from ships.

EMSA’s activities:

• providing technical and scientific assistance to the member states and the European Commission in the proper development and implementation of EU legislation on maritime safety, security, prevention of pollution by ships and maritime transport administrative simplification
• monitoring the implementation of EU legislation through visits and inspections
• improving cooperation with and between member states
• building capacity of national competent authorities
• providing operational assistance, including developing, managing and maintaining maritime services related to ships, ship monitoring and enforcement
• carrying out operational preparedness, detection and response tasks with respect to pollution caused by ships and marine pollution by oil and gas installations
• at the request of the European Commission, providing technical operational assistance to non-EU countries around relevant sea basins.

This publication hinges around our five strategic areas of action – sustainability, safety,
security, simplification and surveillance – and our four-fold role of service provider,
reliable partner, international reference and knowledge hub. Through this structured
approach, we share how we have delivered on the aims and ambitions set out in our
roadmap that is the Single Programming Document 2021-2023.

Source: EMSA