DANUBE COMMISSION (Summary information)

Updated 07.07.2007

The Convention regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube signed in Belgrade on 18 August 1948 is the international legal instrument governing navigation on the Danube. The so-called Belgrade Convention is providing for free navigation on the Danube in accordance with the interests and sovereign rights of the Contracting Parties of the Convention aiming thereby at strengthening the economic and cultural relations among themselves and with other nations.

 According to the Convention, the 11 Member States Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia undertake to maintain their sections of the Danube in a navigable condition for river-going and, on the appropriate sections, for sea-going vessels and to carry out the works necessary for the maintenance and improvement of navigation conditions and not to obstruct or hinder navigation on the navigable channels of the Danube.

            As a consequence of the socio-economic changes in the countries of Central- and Eastern Europe, and following the introduction of sanctions by the UN Security Council against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the volume of transport dropped dramatically. Now, that these difficulties are over, the overall transport of goods on the Danube is recovering quickly and absorbing an essential part of the steadily growing exchange between Eastern and Western Europe. The opening of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal between Nürnberg and Kelheim on September 21, 1992 and the creation of a trans-European waterway from Rotterdam to Sulina on the Black Sea (3500 km) have also contributed to the resumption of river traffic, especially on the upper sectors of the Danube River.  

In the framework of a close co-operation, special attention is given by the Member States to constantly improving technical and legal conditions of navigation for the vessels of all nations.  

As a consequence, vessels flying flags of over 30 countries have been registered on the Danube.  

The Danube Commission, which consists of the representatives of the Member States - one for each - has been established to supervise the implementation of the 1948 Convention and to fulfill various other tasks aiming at ensuring adequate conditions for shipping on the Danube. It goes, historically speaking, back to the Paris Conferences of 1856 and 1921 which established for the first time an international regime to safeguard free navigation on the Danube.  

Matters concerning the Commission's statute are regulated by the Convention on its privileges and immunities, which came into force in January 1964.  

Twice a year, the Commission holds its ordinary sessions and if necessary, the Commission may hold extraordinary sessions. The Commission regularly convenes groups of experts of the Danube countries for the consideration of items provided for in the Commission's working plans.  

The primary tasks entering the Commission's competence consist of:  

-         supervising the implementation of the Convention's provisions;  

-         preparing a general plan of the main works called for in the interest of navigation on the basis of proposals and projects presented by the Member States and the Special River Administrations and, likewise drawing up an evaluation of the costs of such works;  

-         consulting with, and making recommendations to the Member States in respect of the execution of the above mentioned works, with due consideration of the technical and economic interests, plans and possibilities of the respective States;  

-         consulting with, and making recommendations to the Special River Administrations and exchanging information with them;  

-         establishing a uniform system of traffic regulations on the whole navigable portion of the Danube and, taking into account the specific conditions of various sections of the river, laying down the basic provisions governing navigation on the Danube, including those governing the pilot service;  

-         unifying the regulations governing river, customs and sanitary inspection;  

-         harmonizing regulations on inland navigation with the European Union and the Central Commission for the Navigation on the Rhine;  

-         coordinating the activity of hydro-meteorological services on the Danube, and publishing short-term and long-term hydrologic forecasts for the Danube;  

-         collecting statistical data on aspects of navigation on the Danube within the Commission's competence;  

-         publishing reference works, sailing directions, nautical charts and atlases for purposes of navigation.  

The official languages of the Commission are German, French and Russian.  

The Commission elects from among its members, a President, a Vice-President and a Secretary for a term of three years; since 2008 Ambassador Igor Sergejevich SAVOLSKIY (Russian Federation); Ambassador Ernő Keskeny (Hungary); Ambassador Dmytro TKATCH (Ukraine).  

The Commission has a Secretariat the activity of which contributes to the implementation of the tasks provided for in art.8 of the 1948 Convention regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube and set forth in the Commission's working plans. The Director General is Dr. István VALKÁR (Hungary) who is in charge of the Secretariat of the Danube Commission composed of a staff of 11 international civil servants and 19 employees.  

The Danube Commission is co-operating on a large scale with various international organizations such as the European Union, the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses, the Central Commission for the Navigation on the Rhine, the Oder Commission, the International Maritime Organization, and others.  

The Danube Commission has undertaken the study of a number of problems concerning navigation on the Danube in connection with the creation of an all-European system of inland navigation. The Danube Commission is actively working in order to fulfill the Declaration on European Inland Waterways and Transport adopted by the Ministerial Conference on the most timely issues of European inland waterway transport (Budapest, September 11, 1991), as well as the Declaration of the Rotterdam Conference on Accelerating Pan-European Co-operation Towards a Free and Strong Inland Waterway Transport of 5-6 September, 2001.  

The Danube Commission has prepared and published in its official languages over 350 works dealing with various matters relating to navigation on the Danube.  

Since the blockade of the Danube by the debris of three bridges destroyed in April 1999 as a result of the military actions in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Danube Commission has taken measures to restore free navigation on the Danube. The project “Clearance of the Fairway of the Danube” at the cost of 26 million euro was set up at the beginning of the year 2000 with the financial aid of the European Union contributing 85% of the total sum. The remaining 15% consist of contributions of the Danube countries themselves and non-riparian countries with an interest in free navigation on the Danube. All contributions have been paid to the so-called International Fund to an account at the Austrian National Bank in Vienna.  

All the work carried out within the framework of the project had to be in accordance with European Union regulations.  

In November 2000 a Technical Unit for the Clearance Project of the Danube Commission was established, which was in charge of all activities in connection with the project and responsible to the Danube Commission.

By June 2003 the section of Novi Sad had been completely cleared. In 2004 continuous, round the clock navigation on the river was hindered only by a pontoon bridge, which was disassembled on 7 October,  2005, as soon as the bridge "Sloboda" had been restored and put into operation.

Since then the question of the clearance of the fairway and of assuring navigation on the Danube without hindrances has been totally solved. 

The results of the implementation of the Convention's provisions are reflected in the overall development of navigation on the Danube, in the growth of inland waterway transport, in a general strengthening of economic relations of the Contracting Parties among themselves and with the countries of Western Europe, as well as in the growth of international trade. 

Against the background of an enlarging European Union, with its overall market of almost 500 million consumers, especially in a period when several Member States of the Danube Commission have already joined or are going to join the European Union, European transport policy has the task to create the necessary conditions for enhancing and improving coordinated planning and financing, particularly with regard to the infrastructure of inland waterway transport, not only in the member states of the European Union but in the accession countries as well. 

Another relevant question in this context is the harmonization of technical prescriptions, rules and standards, as well as of legal provisions in force on the Danube, on the Rhine, within the European Union, and those adopted by the ECE UNO, with the aim of creating a uniform Pan-European system of inland navigation consisting of organizational structures that can meet present conditions.

      With regard to all these important measures the Danube Commission should be, so to say, the "hinges" in the gate of the European house – which since the fall of the iron curtain has been open for both East and West - and contribute, as much as possible, to the strengthening of co-operation among countries that have not joined the European Union and the member states of this organization. 

The Danube Commission will only be in a position to make such a contribution if the Belgrade Convention is adapted to the political, legal and technical changes that have taken place since 1948. The reason for this being, that in the period following 1948, and particularly during the last decade social, political and economic conditions, first of all in the countries of Eastern Europe, underwent substantial changes. Therefore, it has become an absolute necessity to bring the Convention into harmony with present day circumstances. 

At the moment these questions are examined by a Preparatory Committee composed of the representatives of the Contracting Parties of the Belgrade Convention, in the work of which the Danube Commission participates as an observer. This Committee has the task to prepare for the Diplomatic Conference to be convened in the near future the necessary draft amendments and/or supplements to the Belgrade Convention.