DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON EU REGULATIONS ON RECOGNIZED

UNCLAS ROME 001493 SIPDIS MARAD PASS TO GSHALL, USCG PASS TO CERAWSON, USTR PASS TO CMELLEY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EUN EWWT IMO IT ECON SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON EU REGULATIONS ON RECOGNIZED ORGANIZATIONS REF: REFTEL STATE 116998 ¶1. (U) Econoff delivered the demarche regarding USG concerns about proposed regulations regarding recognized organizations in article 10 of the draft third maritime safety package. There was confusion on the Italian side as to which office had competence to respond to the concerns. We were redirected three times and this week received a response from Giusepe Alati of the Ministry of Transportation. ¶2. (U) Mr. Alati stated that though he had closely followed the issue during preparation of the initial text, competency for the issue had passed to the Italian representative to the EU. He declined to further elaborate on Italy's position or to speak with the Italian representative to the EU, saying he is not "in a position to interfere" with approval of the legislation. ¶3. (U) Comment: While we could not get Mr. Alati to eleborate on Italy's position, we interpret his response to mean that Italy favors the adoption of article 10 and would not be willing to support elimination of the mutual recognition provision. End Comment. SPOGLI