PORT AND MARITIME SECURITY: IS THERE A DISTINCTIVE EUROPEAN APPROACH? Athanasios A. Pallis & George K. Vaggelas Department of Shipping, Trade and Transport, University of the Aegean, Greece 2 Korai St, Chios 82 100, Greece. Tel. +30-22710-35275 Fax: +30-22710-35299. E-mail: apallis@aegean.gr ; g.vaggelas@aegean.gr Abstract Following major transport related security incidents, public policies aiming to 15 enhance the competitiveness of port systems and their integration in supply chains and multimodal systems have been complemented by regulatory and voluntary initiatives aiming to increase the security and operational reliability of the sector. The adoption of international rules has been followed be the emergence of regional regimes. This study focuses on transport security public policies in Europe vis-à-vis the ones that take place in the US. This study demonstrates that while the European Union (EU) initially acted mostly as the 'follower‟ of the US security related initiatives, stakeholders and policy-makers in Europe have progressively thinking of a more flexible (or less restricted) approach. The study provides a comparative assessment of the scope and content of the relevant endorsed US and EU security related (maritime) transport and port policies, as well as the initiatives currently in discussion, in the light of the stakeholders approaches vis-à-vis these and other potential policies. It also compares the resulting policy-making and implementation regimes that are in place. The findings of these comparisons suggest that the characteristics of the 30 European industries and of the involved transport systems and, not least, the attitudes of the stakeholders differ from those observed in the US, with this differentiation leading to the emergence of an adjusted European maritime and port security approach.