No C 328/34 Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 12. 86
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation laying down the conditions under which
non-resident carriers may transport goods or passengers by inland waterway within a Member
State
(86/C 328/13)
On 18 December 1985 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 75 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the
abovementioned proposal.
The Section for Transport and Communications, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion at its 170th meeting on 16 July 1986,
in the light of the report by Mr Fortuyn, the rapporteur.
The Section for Transport and Communications, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 16 July 1986.
At its 239th plenary session (meeting of 18 September 1986) the Economic and Social
Committee adopted the following opinion by 91 votes to 10, with three abstentions:
1. General comments
1.1. As the Commission's explanatory memorandum
points out, this proposal must be seen against the
background of the Judgement of the European Court
of Justice of 22 May 1985 in case 13/83, European
Parliament versus the Council of Ministers, and in the
light of the Commission's White Paper on completing
the internal market which was submitted to the Council
in June 1985 and met with its approval.
1.2. The Court of Justice's Judgement — the 'failure
to act' decision — clearly states that, pursuant to the
principles, objectives and mandatory provisions of the
Treaty, the freedom to provide transport services, hence
also inland shipping services, is a part of the common
transport policy and must be introduced. This means
that carriers must be allowed to offer and perform
inland transport services in Member States in which
they are not established. The White Paper (paragraphs
108 to 112, 'Transport') states that the necessary meas-
ures should come into effect by 1989.
1.3. The proposed Regulation is particularly impor-
tant for inland shipping in five Member States: Ger-
many, France and the three Benelux countries. Thanks
to the extensive network of rivers and canals in this
region, a substantial proportion of both domestic and
international transport is carried out by water. Because
the waterways in this region link up with each other,
vessels can sail directly from one Member State to
another and therefore offer their services in countries
where their owners are not established.
1.4. The freedom to provide inland shipping services
has been a reality for some considerable time already
(!) OJ No C 331, 20. 12. 1985, p. 2.
in part of this region, on the Rhine and its tributaries
in particular, under the Mannheim Convention. In some
cases, however, national provisions still limit free access
to the market.
1.5. The Committee acknowledges that the freedom
to provide inland shipping services is a part of the
common transport policy and that, with a view to
the completion of the internal market, the remaining
restrictions must be lifted. Hence the Committee
approves the main points of the Commission draft
Regulation which lays down the conditions under
which carriers may transport goods and passengers by
inland waterway in Member States in which they are
not established, but is of the view that the proposal
is unsatisfactory in a number of respects and would
therefore draw the attention of the Commission and
Council to the following comments.
1.6. The Committee notes that in the explanatory
memorandum to its proposal the Commission does
not consider vital for inland shipping the question of
structural overcapacity in shipping tonnage. The resol-
ution of this question could contribute towards healthy
market conditions with a minimum of government
intervention. The Committee therefore urges the Com-
mission and Member States to work vigorously together
to remove this excess capacity by means of properly
coordinated schemes for scrapping vessels and social
back-up measures.
1.7. Article 3 of the draft Regulation states that
the carrying out by a non-resident carrier of national
transport operations is subject to the laws, regulations
and administrative provisions in force in the Member
State in which the transport operations are carried
out. This gives the impression that the continued co-
existence of separate markets governed by varying
national provisions is acceptable.
1.8. The Committee regrets that the Commission
provides only a brief explanatory note to this Article
and does not analyse and compare the different national
provisions, thereby broaching the question of how
2 2 . 1 2 . ^ C^fficialjournal of the European Communities l ^ o C ^ ^
desirable it would be to promote harmonization of
these provisions as part ofthe common transport police.
Idereadistinction must be made between different t^pes
of provisions.
1.^. ^ i t h reference to Article 1 of the proposed
Re^u la t ion^ theCommit tee i sof t h e o p i n i o n t h a t t h e
carrier is subject solelv to the laws^ regulations and
administrative provisions of thecountrv in which he
is established as regards establishments access to the
occupations profits t a ^ technical regulations and re^is^
tration dues for the firm's vessels^ social provisions
covering the firm'semplo^ees^ and the master'squalifi
cations. Therefore the Committee recommends that the
harmonization of national provisions be studied. Idere
it should be noted that the relevant national provisions
^overnin^ Rhine shipping have alreadv been aliened
through the cooperation of the member states con
cerned on the Central Commission for the l^avi^ation
ofthe Rhine. Aientionma^ also be made ofthe directive
submitted in 1 ^ ^ but not vet adopted on access to the
o