Directive 2009/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector and amending Council Directive 1999/35/EC and Directive 2002/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.

The purpose of this Directive is to improve maritime safety and the prevention of pollution by ships, and so reduce the risk of future marine casualties. To this end, it lays down provisions for facilitating the expeditious holding of safety investigations and proper analysis of marine casualties and incidents in order to determine their causes, and ensuring the timely and accurate reporting of safety investigations and proposals for remedial action. These provisions apply to marine casualties and incidents that (i) involve ships flying the flag of European Community Member States, and (ii) occur within Member States' territorial sea. The Directive provides for the establishment of the European Marine Casualty Information Platform, where data on marine casualties and incidents shall be stored and analysed by means of a European electronic database.