The 2nd sustainability working group meeting took place on Friday 11th October in Rome, Italy. The objectives of the meeting were to draft legal documents and to explore and draft operation procedures for sustainable implementation of Joint Action activities including analysis of costs and potential income and then recommend to General Assembly which is the Joint Action decision body. 

The main conclusions from the meeting were the following: 

• The Terms of Reference for the Sustainability working group were revised. 
• The legal basis for the sustainable implementation of the following activities were explored: 

a. the information system for recording and issuing Ship Sanitation Certificates according to IHR 2005 for all types of ships based on WHO guidelines;

b. the electronic communication network platform; 
c. the activities of training of inspectors on hygiene and health issues related to maritime transport;
d. the EU SHIPSAN Manual for hygiene standards and communicable diseases surveillance on passenger ships: 

i. As a possible option for the legal base, a Memorandum of Understanding was proposed to be signed among the Ministries of EU Member States that intend to implement permanently the above mentioned activities. 

ii. Translation of the EU SHIPSAN Manual is important for wider dissemination and for training purposes.  The English version of the Manual would be the official one, while a bilingual version can be used as supporting document. 

Please download the agenda of the working group here.