
Article 1 
The Community recognition of the Hellenic Register of Shipping is extended for a period of 17 months as from the date of adoption of this Decision, subject to the conditions set out in the Annex.
Article 2 
The effects of this Decision are limited to Greece.
Article 3 
This Decision is addressed to the Hellenic Republic.
Done at Brussels, 30 March 2009.
For the Commission
Antonio TAJANI
Vice-President
ANNEX

The limited recognition of the Hellenic Register of Shipping is subject to the following conditions:

1.. The organisation shall implement corrective and preventive action as necessary in order to address all shortcomings identified in the Commission’s assessments.
2.. The organisation shall carry out, with the assistance of appropriately qualified external experts, an investigation covering the five years immediately preceding the taking effect of this decision and encompassing the entire organisation, in order to:

((a)) determine the fundamental causes and extent of the shortcomings identified in the Commission’s assessments;
((b)) assess the risks incurred as a result of the said shortcomings and in particular the extent to which the safety of the ships concerned may have been compromised;
((c)) implement, by 1 October 2009 and in addition to the corrective action referred to in point 1, a specific action plan to address the risks referred to in point 2(b), including re-inspection of ships as necessary.
3.. The organisation shall be assisted by appropriately qualified external experts, in order to bring the organisation’s rules and procedures fully into line with the requirements laid down in Article 15(2) and (5) of Directive 94/57/EC as well as in criteria A.4, B.6(a) and B.7(a) of the Annex to that Directive.
4.. The organisation shall be assisted by appropriately qualified external experts in the training of surveyors. By 1 July 2009, qualifications shall be granted to surveyors based solely on certificates delivered by these external experts attesting to the surveyor concerned having successfully completed the necessary training.
5.. The organisation’s top management personnel shall undergo, by 1 August 2009, a specific quality management training programme provided by appropriately qualified external experts.
6.. The experts referred to in points 2 to 5 shall be subject to prior explicit agreement of the Greek administration for the purpose after consultation with the Commission, assisted by EMSA.
7.. All surveyors from offices outside Greece shall be retrained and their qualifications re-certified in accordance with point 4 of this Annex. Until re-certified in accordance with this point, surveyors outside Greece shall not carry out any class or statutory surveys unless these are carried out jointly with a surveyor from an office in Greece or with an exclusive surveyor from another recognised organisation.
8.. Without prejudice to point 9 of this Annex, the organisation shall not accept new ships for classification during the period referred to in Article 1 of this Decision.
9.. By 1 October 2009, the maximum period for which ships are allowed to trade with provisional certificates shall be reduced to three months.
10.. The organisation’s checklists for statutory tasks shall be either approved by the Greek administration or provided by another recognised organisation.
11.. By 1 July 2009, the organisation’s checklists for class surveys shall be replaced by new checklists produced and kept up to date with the assistance of the experts referred to in point 3.
12.. By 1 May 2009, the Management Information System newly developed by the organisation shall become operational with the following capabilities:

((a)) providing accurate and fully up-to-date information concerning the training and qualification of surveyors before job assignment;
((b)) providing accurate and fully up-to-date ship survey status information;
((c)) verification of all survey reports before entering the relevant data into the system; and
((d)) providing the organisation’s management with warnings in case of excessive delays in the production of survey records.
13.. Following the taking effect of this Decision the organisation shall submit to the Greek authorities and to the Commission, at two-monthly intervals, a report on the progress in the fulfilment of the conditions laid down in points 1 to 5 and in points 7 to 12.
14.. The organisation shall take the necessary measures to improve its performance significantly.
15.. The Commission, assisted by EMSA, shall assess on a continuous basis the fulfilment of the conditions in points 1 to 14 of this Annex and in particular respect of the deadlines set out therein. Non-fulfilment of these conditions or non-respect of the relevant deadlines may, at any time during the period referred to in Article 1 of this Decision, be considered by the Commission as grounds for withdrawal of recognition in accordance with Article 9 of Directive 94/57/EC.
