Shipping remains one of the safest modes of transport; however, thousands of accidents still occur each year, the majority involving human error. Key contributing factors include education, training and working conditions. The higher the quality of education and training received by seafarers, the safer shipping becomes.

While many seafarers operating in EU waters are educated, trained and certified in Europe, EU-registered ships are often crewed by nationals of non-EU countries. This must be considered when determining how best to ensure that crew members on EU-registered ships are appropriately educated and trained.

EMSA has been assigned two main tasks in this area: inspections in non-EU countries and visits to Member States.

The European Commission, assisted by EMSA, verifies the implementation of Union law concerning the education, training and certification of seafarers in EU Member States. Visits to Member States for this purpose are carried out within a five-year cycle, as established in Directive (EU) 2022/993. The first cycle ran from 2007-2012, the second from 2014-2021 and the third began in 2022.

Before travelling to a Member State, EMSA conducts a detailed analysis of the national provisions adopted to implement the Directive. Upon arrival, and in coordination with the national authorities, visits are carried out to national administrations and a sample of maritime education and training institutions. These visits verify the systems in place, including the quality of education/training, the procedures applied and the human and technical resources available.

Together with parallel inspection activities in non-EU countries, initiated in 2005, EMSA staff currently travel to approximately eight countries per year to verify the systems implemented.

This process ensures that the standards laid down in the STCW Convention and the EU Directive are properly implemented and consistently applied. It also enables the identification of areas for improvement.