Twelve European Union member states have failed to implement maritime safety legislation developed following the Erika oil tanker accident in 1999, said the European Commission.
The Commission said the formal letter sent to the 12 states was the first stage of an infringement procedure against the member states who should have adopted the necessary legislation by 5 February 2004.
It said if the member states did not adopt the measure necessary to implement the Directive within two months, it would take further enforcement measures which could see the non-compliant states taken to the European Court of Justice.
The 12 states who have not implemented the directive are: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and the UK.
Only three member states, Denmark, Germany and Spain, have implemented the legislation.
The EU Directive 2002/59, which establishes a community vessel traffic monitoring and information system, was implemented in 2002 to increase the safety of maritime traffic.
The Directive is a package of measures including the establishment of places of refuge for ships in distress and the installation of voyage data recorders, similar to the ‘black box' recorders found on aircraft.
The measures were developed in response to concerns raised by the Erika, a single hull oil tanker which broker in two off the French coast in 1999, spilling 3.8 million gallons of oil.
