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Blue Belt ready for next phase

[ June 11, 2012   //   ]

Several EU member states said they were ready to enshrine the Blue Belt short sea facilitation pilot project into permanent legislation at the Transport Council in Luxembourg in early June. A total of 255 ships took part in the pilot phase of the Blue Belt project, which aims to simplify administrative procedures, using the SafeSeaNet, Community system for exchanging maritime information to transmit information to customs authorities.

Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said: “It is essential that the Blue Belt pilot service become permanent and expand gradually to all vessels that move between EU ports.” UK Transport Secretary Justine Greening however called for a true simplification of administrative formalities that would not be limited to technological solutions including a simplification of the customs code,, before it will taking a position on the integration of Blue Belt into its legislation. France also called for further technical work on the reliability of data.

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