L 109/42 Official Journal of the European Union 30.4.2009 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 30 March 2009 extending the limited Community recognition of the Hellenic Register of Shipping (HRS) (notified under document number C(2009) 2130) (Only the Greek text is authentic) (2009/354/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 94/57/EC of 22 November 1994 on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organizations and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations (), and in particular Article 4(3) thereof, Having regard to the letter of 6 June 2008 from the Greek authorities, requesting the extension of the limited recognition of the Hellenic Register of Shipping (HRS) pursuant to Article 4(3) of Directive 94/57[EC, Having regard to the letters of 28 January and 12 February 2009 from the Greek authorities, confirming their abovemen- tioned request, Whereas: (1) Limited recognition under Article 4(2) of Directive 94/57[EC is a recognition granted to organisations known as classification societies, which fulfil all criteria other than those set out under paragraphs 2 and 3 of the ‘General’ section A of the Annex thereto, but limited in time and scope in order for the organisation concerned to gain further experience. (2)  In accordance with Article 4(3) of Directive 94/57[EC, a decision on the extension of such recognition shall not take into account the criteria set out under paragraphs 2 and 3 of section A of the Annex but shall take into account the safety and pollution prevention performance records of the organisation, referred to in Article 9(2) of the said Directive. Any decision on the extension of the limited recognition shall specify under which conditions, if any, such extension is granted. (3) At the request of the Greek authorities, the Commission granted the Hellenic Register of Shipping a limited recog- () OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 20. nition for a period of three years by Decision 98/295/EC (%) of 22 April 1998; the effects of this recog- nition were limited to Greece. Upon expiry of the recog- nition, a new limited recognition was granted by Commission Decision 2001/890/EC (%), for a second period of three years and again with effects limited to Greece, at the request of the Greek authorities. The organisation’s recognition was extended by Commission Decision 2005/623/EC (*) of 3 August 2005 for a third period of three years with effects limited to Greece and Cyprus, at the request of the Greek and Cypriot auth- orities. At the request of the Maltese authorities, the recognition was subsequently extended to Malta in 2006 by Commission Decision 2006/382EC (°) of 22 May 2006 with the same expiry date. (4)  The limited recognition of the Hellenic Register of Shipping expired on 3 August 2008. (5)  The Commission assessed the Hellenic Register of Shipping in accordance with Article 11(3) of Directive 94/57[EC. The assessment was based on the results of four fact-finding inspections performed in 2006 and 2007 by experts of the European Maritime Safety Agency  (hereinafter EMSA) in accordance with Article 2(b)(ii) of Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (°). The Cypriot, Greek and Maltese administrations were invited to take part in the assessment; as a result, these admin- istrations took part in the inspection of the organisation’s head office in September 2006. (6)  After having taken into account the organisation’s obser- vations, the assessment confirmed a significant number of items of non-conformity with the criteria laid down in Directive 94/57/EC which seriously affected the organis- ation’s main systems and control mechanisms. These conclusions were communicated to the three adminis- trations concerned, who formulated no observations from their side, and to the organisation. () OJ L 131, 5.5.1998, p. 34. () O] L 329, 14.12.2001, p. 72. () O] L 219, 24.8.2005, p. 43. () O] L 151, 6.6.2006, p. 31. () O] L 208, 5.8.2002, p. 1.