Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

"Iris Oifigiúil" of 21st August, 2015.

I, PASCHAL DONOHOE, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Council Directive No. 96/98/EC of 20 December 1996¹ , as amended by Commission Directive No. 2014/93/EU of 18 July 2014² , hereby make the following regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Marine Equipment) (Amendment) Regulations 2015.

(2) These Regulations come into operation on 14 August 2015.

2. The European Union (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2014 ( S.I. No. 540 of 2014 ) are amended-

(a) in Regulation 2(1), by substituting for the definition of "Marine Equipment Directive" the following:

" ‘Marine Equipment Directive’ means Council Directive No. 96/98/EC of 20 December 19961 (as amended by Commission Directive No. 98/85/EC of 11 November 1998³ , Commission Directive No. 2001/53/EC of 10 July 2001⁴ , Commission Directive No. 2002/75/EC of 2 September 2002⁵ , Directive No. 2002/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002⁶ , Commission Directive No. 2008/67/EC of 30 June 2008⁷ , Commission Directive No. 2009/26/EC of 6 April 2009⁸ , Regulation (EC) No. 596/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009⁹ , Commission Directive No. 2010/68/EU of 22 October 2010¹⁰ , Commission Directive No. 2011/75/EU of 2 September 2011¹¹ , Commission Directive No. 2012/32/EU of 25 October 2012¹² , Commission Directive No. 2013/52/EU of 30 October 2013¹³ and Commission Directive No. 2014/93/EU of 18 July 20142);",

and

(b) by inserting after Regulation 9 the following:

"9A.Notwithstanding Regulation 3, equipment listed in Annex A.1 to the Marine Equipment Directive (as in force on 14 August 2015), and referred to in that Annex as a new item or as having been transferred from Annex A.2 to the Directive to Annex A.1, being equipment that does not comply with the requirements of that Regulation, may be placed on the market or on board an Irish ship until 14 August 2017 if the equipment was manufactured before 14 August 2015 in accordance with procedures for type approval in force before that date within the State or the territory of another Member State.".

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

12 August 2015.

PASCHAL DONOHOE,

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

Commission Directive 2014/93/EU updates the principal Directive 96/98/EC on marine equipment by substituting a new Annex A that sets out the marine equipment to be placed on board ships and the testing standards that apply under the international maritime conventions of the International Maritime Organisation for MARPOL (prevention of pollution), SOLAS (safety at sea), Load Lines and the Collision Regulations.

These Regulations amended the European Union (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2014 ( SI No. 540 of 2014 ). They transpose Directive 2014/93/EU with effect from 14 August 2015 and provide that transitional arrangements apply until 14 August 2017 in respect of certain marine equipment that was manufactured before 14 August 2015.

1 OJ No. L. 46, 17.2.1997, p. 25

2 OJ No. L. 220, 25.7.2014, p.1

3 OJ No. L. 315, 25.11.1998, p. 14

4 OJ No. L. 204, 28.7.2001, p. 1

5 OJ No. L. 254, 23.9.2002, p. 1

6 OJ No. L. 324, 29.11.2002, p. 53

7 OJ No. L. 171, 1.7.2008, p. 16

8 OJ No. L. 113, 6.5.2009, p. 1

9 OJ No. L. 188, 18.7.2009, p. 14

10 OJ No. L. 305, 20.11.2010, p. 1

11 OJ No. L. 239, 15.9.2011, p. 1

12 OJ No. L. 312, 10.11.2012, p. 1

13 OJ No. L. 304, 14.11.2013, p. 1