28.5.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L 131/101 DIRECTIVE 2009/17/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 2002/59/EC establishing a Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 80(2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (?), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (}), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 3 February 2009, Whereas: (1)  With the adoption of Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (), the European Union reinforced its capacity for preventing situations posing a threat to the safety of human life at sea and to the protection of the marine environment. (2)  Since this Directive concerns the amendment of Directive 2002/59/EC, most of the obligations it contains will not be applicable to Member States without sea shores and sea ports. Consequently, the only obligations which will be applicable to Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg or Slovakia are those obligations concerning ships flying the flag of those Member States, without prejudice to Member States’ duty of cooperation to ensure continuity between maritime and other modal traffic management services, in particular river infor- mation services. (") OJ C 318, 23.12.2006, p. 195. (3 OJ C 229, 22.9.2006, p. 38. (}) Opinion of the European Parliament of 25 April 2007 (O] C 74 E, 20.3.2008, p. 533), Council Common Position of 6 June 2008 (O] C 184 E, 22.7.2008, p. 1), Position of the European Parliament of 24 September 2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Decision of 26 February 2009 and Legislative Resolution of the European Parliament of 11 March 2009 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (% OJ L 208, 5.8.2002, p. 10. G) Under this Directive Member States that are coastal States should be able to exchange information, which they gather in the course of maritime traffic monitoring missions, which they carry out in their areas of competence. The Community maritime information exchange system ‘SafeSeaNet, developed by the Commission in agreement with the Member States, comprises, on the one hand, a data exchange network and, on the other hand, a standardisation of the main information available on ships and their cargo (advance notice and reporting). It thus makes it possible to locate at source and communicate to any authority accurate and up-to-date information on ships in European waters, their movements and their dangerous or polluting cargoes, as well as marine incidents. Accordingly, in order to guarantee operational use of the information gathered in this way, it is essential that the infrastructure necessary for the data collection and exchange referred to in this Directive and implemented by the national administrations be integrated into the SafeSeaNet. Of the information notified and exchanged pursuant to Directive 2002/59/EC, that concerning the precise characteristics of dangerous or polluting goods carried by sea is particularly important. Accordingly, and in the light of recent maritime accidents, coastal authorities should be allowed easier access to the characteristics of the hydrocarbons being carried by sea, an essential factor in choosing the most suitable control techniques, and, in an emergency, provided with a direct link with those operators who have the best knowledge of the goods being carried. The automatic ship identification systems (AIS - Automatic Identification System) referred to in the Inter- national Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea of 1 November 1974 make it possible not only to improve the possibilities of monitoring these ships but above all to make them safer in close navigation situations. AIS have accordingly been integrated into the enacting terms of Directive 2002/59/EC. Considering the large number of collisions involving fishing vessels that have clearly not been seen by merchant ships or which have not seen the merchant ships around them, extension of that measure to include fishing vessels with a length of more than 15 metres is very much to be desired. In the framework of the European Fisheries Fund, financial assistance may be provided for the fitting on board of fishing vessels of safety equipment such as AIS. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has