(5)Directive 1999/35/EC provided that once in every 12-month period host States are to carry out a specific survey and a survey during a regular service. Although the objective of this requirement was to ensure that those two inspections are carried out with a sufficient interval between them, the REFIT fitness check demonstrated that this is not always the case. In order to clarify the inspection regime and to ensure that there is a harmonised inspection framework that ensures a high level of safety, while taking account of the common needs of the passenger services, it should be clarified that the two annual inspections should take place regularly, at approximately 6-monthly intervals. If the vessel is in service, those consecutive inspections should be no less than four and no more than 8 months apart.