EUROPEAN MARITIME SAFETY AGENCY (EMSA)

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is a European Union agency charged with reducing the risk of maritime accidents, marine pollution from ships and the loss of human lives at sea by helping to enforce the pertinent EU legislation. It is headquartered in Lisbon. EMSA 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.

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