Action 1.1 - Memorandum of understanding

Memorandum of Understanding for the sharing and implementation of a coordinated program of assistance and information for the SMEs of the Marche region belonging to the naval industrial productive sector and to the marine pleasure craft.

The protocol, designed by the beneficiaries of the project ENA, that are also the first subscribers, represents an important effort to give weight to a local policy focused on the "blue economy" . At the regional level, it is now existing   in many contexts, both a wide public and private participation.
Through this tool, the ENA project recommends concrete actions in respect of the European policies at the regional level. Consequently it gains a very high value under the point of view both of the institutions and of the world of entrepreneurship.

A first draft version has been distributed in January and February 2011 in order to define the contents, regarding regional policies related to the so-called "Sea District".
Since the beginning, it has been emphasized the fact that the purpose of the Protocol is to help the SMEs of the naval sector of the Marche region to integrate environmental issues in a systematic way in their production sector. The protocol has been considered appropriate to the Memorandum of Understanding as an executive document considering that it makes official the commitment of public and private entities involved in the project so that they collaborate for the whole duration. Moreover, the protocol formalizes and reaffirms the project aims not only to the partners but also to potential new public and private entities, having a sustainable long-term view of the initiative.
In fact, this is an  opened memorandum of understanding (with reference to the Art. 6) because it is supposed to be a strong recovery of the sector. Furthermore, we expect the maximum involvement in the project activities both of companies and members of the Consorzio Navale Marchigiano (CNM) and of other companies not belonging to this organization.

A first version of the Memorandum of Understanding has been discussed in several meetings involving both formal and non-formal institutions and technical operators of the Sea District of the Marche region.
The specific themes of the memorandum of understanding are: the Eco-design, the ecological footprint of enterprises, the life cycle assessment of a product, eco-management, technical insights and regulations such as:

• The integration of environmental concerns into business processes  in respect of the Directive 2005/32/EC;
• The improvement of workplace security and health of workers such as the protection from risks caused by chemicals; with particular reference to EC Regulation no. 1907/2006 (REACH) and of Article. 8 of the Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Aurhus, 24/06/1998) ratified by Law No 6 March 2006. 125. It allowed to interact with the companies of the sector in a concrete and practical way, above all regarding the commitments that the companies are supposed to face and respect, in order to fulfil the responsibility laid down by the legislation itself.

The Partnership planned that the document had to be signed by the institutional bodies starting from the project partners, the CNM promoted and sensitized companies on this topic. As already said, this is an open protocol, conceived with the aim to allow future participation of further companies belonging to boating pleasure craft and naval industry, even during the course of the project and within the time limits determined.
The protocol, as expressly set out in Article. 7, may be extended even after the end of the project ENA, in order to strengthen and enhance its results and to establish a real naval industry cluster.
At the Memorandum of Understanding (Appendix 5.2.1) have been attached as an integral part of it, a summary schedule of the project ENA, the Directive 2005/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, the Regulation (EC) No . 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council.