Verification of the implementation of EU maritime safety and environmental legislation is a core task of the Agency. There are several reasons for verifying how this legislation is implemented in practice, including identifying gaps in the overall safety system, promoting a harmonised approach across the EU, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the measures in place.

Visits are carried out in accordance with Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2025/2434 of 26 November 2025 on the European Maritime Safety Agency, which provides that:

“The Agency shall assist the Commission:

(a) in monitoring the effective implementation of relevant binding Union legal acts falling under the objectives of the Agency, in particular by carrying out visits and inspections as referred to in Article 10;

(b) in the preparatory work for updating and developing relevant Union legal acts falling under the objectives of the Agency, in particular in accordance with the development of relevant international law;

(c) in the performance of any other task assigned to the Commission in Union legislative acts falling under the objectives of the Agency.

For the purposes of the first subparagraph, point (a), the Agency may suggest improvements to the Commission.”

In addition, Article 10(1) then provides that:

“In order to assist the Commission in fulfilling its duties under the TFEU, and in particular the assessment of the effective implementation of relevant Union law in the areas of maritime safety and the prevention of pollution, the Agency shall carry out visits to Member States, if the Commission delegates such a task to the Agency, in accordance with a methodology stablished by the Management Board. Such methodology shall involve an integrated approach which aims to verify more than one piece of legislation relevant to the function of flag, port or coastal State of the Member State concerned.”

In accordance with these provisions, the Commission requests the Agency to verify the effective implementation by Member States of specific Union law in the field of maritime safety and environmental protection. These activities are normally conducted through multi-year cycles of visits to all EU Member States. At the request of the EFTA Surveillance Authority, visits are also carried out to EFTA Member States, generally within the same cycles. The outcomes of these cycles have been taken into account by the Commission in subsequent revisions of the relevant Union law concerned.

Visits are conducted in accordance with the ‘Methodology for Visits to Member States’, adopted by the Administrative Board in 2015. They include document reviews, verification of facilities, staff interviews and examining files on a sampling basis, as appropriate. A 'top-down' approach is applied, starting with the central competent authority and, where relevant, extending to designated authorities at national, regional and local levels, as well as other relevant entities providing services under the applicable legislative provisions at national and EU level.

EMSA carried out its first visits to Member States in 2004, in respect of port State control, followed in 2005 by visits concerning standards for seafarers. Since its creation in 2004, EMSA has undertaken the following cycles of visits:

• Port State control: Three completed cycles of visits from 2004 to 2009, 2012 to 2016 and 2017 to 2022, concerning Directives 95/21/EC and 2009/16/EC. The third cycle also took into account Directive 2013/38/EU (required to be implemented from 21 November 2014) and examined the PSC-related parts of Regulation (EU) No 2015/757 on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport and Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 on ship recycling.
• Standards for seafarers: Two completed cycles of visits from 2005 to 2012 and 2014 to 2021, with a third ongoing cycle started in 2022. The current visits concern Directive (EU) 2022/993.
• Port reception facilities (for waste from ships): One completed cycle of visits from 2007 to 2011, with a second ongoing cycle started in 2024. The current visits concern Directive (EU) 2019/883.
• Vessel traffic monitoring & information systems: The original cycle of visits was carried out from 2009 to 2012. Further visits were conducted between 2012 and 2015 and focused in particular on the accommodation of ships in need of assistance and the systems developed for interconnection with SafeSeaNet (SSN). These visits concerned Directive 2002/59/EC.
• Monitoring of Recognised Organisations: Six visits were carried out before the cycle was suspended due to the impact of Directive 2009/21/EC on compliance with flag State requirements, which had recently entered into force. These visits concerned Directive 2009/15/EC.
• Marine equipment: Two completed cycles of visits from 2010 to 2014 and 2017 to 2023, concerning Directives 96/98/EC and 2014/90/EU
• Accident investigation: One completed cycle of visits from 2012 to 2017, concerning Directive 2009/18/EC.
• Passenger ship safety: The first cycle of visits, concerning the registration of persons sailing on passenger ships, was started in 2012 but was concluded in 2015 after eleven visits, with results providing input to the EU Passenger Safety Legislation Fitness Check (REFIT) carried out by the European Commission at the time. A second cycle of visits, the first for EMSA covering multiple Directives, was started in 2021 and concerns Directives 2009/45/EC, 2003/25/EC and 98/41/EC. These visits include another first, with EMSA reviewing implementation by going on board passenger ships and high-speed craft.
• Harmonised safety regime for fishing vessels: Two visits were carried out in 2016 and 2017, to EFTA states at the request of the EFTA Surveillance Authority, and concerned Directive 97/70/EC.
• Reduction in sulphur content of certain liquid fuels: One completed cycle of visits from 2016 to 2022, concerning Directive (EU) 2016/802.
• Bulk carriers: One completed cycle of visits from 2018 to 2024, concerning Directive 2001/96/EC.
• Ro-Ro passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft: The cycle of visits was started in 2020 and is currently underway. Initially, the visits were combined with the visits to Member States on port State control, but following the completion of that cycle in 2022, the visits are now being carried out either jointly with the visits on passenger ship safety or separately. The visits concern Directive (EU) 2017/2110.