Bearing in mind the accident of MSC Flaminia, the EU operational guidelines were drafted to ensure better coordination, and exchange of information amongst competent authorities and industry stakeholders which are involved in the response to an incident concerning a ship in need of assistance.

The involved parties acknowledged that: “Each State involved in the operation should examine their ability to provide a place of refuge. A place of refuge request cannot be refused for commercial or financial reasons, nor should commercial interests become the main driver for the handling of PoR requests, or the selection of a potential PoR. Unless deemed unsafe, there should be no rejection without inspection.”