Secondly, NATO is in the process of examining something that is referred to as a visit-and-search program in the Adriatic to deter countries from going ahead and shipping oil by boat into the harbour of Bar in Montenegro. That's the main entry point for all petroleum products by sea.

Both the Council and the Commission welcome the willingness of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to hold an additional meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in December 2003 to facilitate an international solution regarding the accelerated phasing-out of single-hull oil tankers and the introduction, in the short term, of a ban on single-hull oil tankers carrying heavy grades of oil.

Both the Council and the Commission welcome the willingness of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to hold an additional meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in December 2003 to facilitate an international solution regarding the accelerated phasing-out of single hull oil tankers and the introduction, in the short term, of a ban on single hull oil tankers carrying heavy grades of oil.

In the interests of preventing the recurrence of maritime disasters such as the sinking of the oil tanker Erika, the European Economic and Social Committee (ESC) adopted an opinion at its plenary session in October on three legislative proposals addressing a number of major aspects of maritime safety relating to the transport of petroleum products and the prevention of accidental pollution which may occur as a result. The rapporteurs for the opinion were Mr Daniel Retureau (rapporteur, Workers' Group, France) and Ms Anna Bredima-Savopoulu (co-rapporteur, Employers' Group).

The NATO decision to proceed with an oil embargo is particularly important in order to ensure that Canadian firms do not become involved in the supply of petroleum-related products in Yugoslavia.

As regards excise duties, various measures had already been taken to alleviate as far as possible the administrative burden on firms in that sector: - the excise-duty simplification Directive, adopted by the Council on 14 December, envisaged simplifications in excise-duty procedures in the event of a change of consignee during transport, something which occurred more often than not in connection with the transport of goods in the trading sector; - agreement had been reached within the Committee on Excise Duties that the transpo ...[+++]rt of oil products by sea, which made up 99% of the transport of products traded, could be covered by a customs export procedure.