CONFÉRENCE EUROPÉENNE DES MINISTRES DES TRANSPORTS
EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF TRANSPORTRESOLUTION No. 92/1 ON THE ECMT MULTILATERAL QUOTA OF LICENCES
FOR THE INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT OF GOODS BY ROAD
FOR HIRE OR REWARD[CEMT/CM(92)8/Final]

At the Committee's Deputies' meeting in October 1991 the Delegation for Luxembourg drewattention to the fact that the provisions set out in Annex II of the draft Resolution on the adjustment of theECMT multilateral quota needed to be updated in some respects in the light of the problems experiencedin practice and of changes in the system implemented within the European Communities. Furthermore,during the November Session of the Council of Ministers, a number of delegations pointed out that it
would be advisable to provide for the computer processing of ECMT licences.
At the same Session a decision was taken to introduce the standards applicable to the "green lorry"with respect to air pollution and noise (Annex A). This led to the introduction of special provisions for theuse of licences on Austrian territory whereby each Member country could choose between using 16"conventional" licences on that territory or 27 if the licences were allocated to "green lorries". In addition,
the Austrian Delegation stipulated during the debate that "green lorries" travelling on its territory should
be provided with a control document which would have to be carried on board together with the ECMT
licence issued for these lorries.
Accordingly, the system has changed over the past six months in two different respects: first, newprovisions for its implementation have been drawn up and, secondly, a certificate of conformity for "greenlorries" has been drawn up together with conditions governing its use.
As regards the certificate of conformity, the Secretariat was first given a remit by the Committee ofDeputies and drew up a form with the approval of the Austrian Delegation which is based on an existing
document that has been used satisfactorily for a number of years as a certificate for low-noise lorries atAustrian frontiers. Countries that have opted for "green lorries" have received copies of this form
(Annex B) together with a letter stating that they may only be filled in by:-- the vehicle manufacturer, or-- the authorised representative of the manufacturer in the country of registration, or-- the registration service of the country of registration, or-- technical services authorised by the ministry concerned in the country of registration, or-- a technical specialist who satisfies the requirements laid down in paragraph 125 of the law now
in force in Austria concerning motor vehicle traffic, or-- a civil engineer authorised by the government.
At the request of the Austrian authorities, as from 16 February 1992, "green lorries" crossing theirfrontiers were to be required to carry these control certificates.

Furthermore, the ad hoc Group on the multilateral quota met in February 1992 to discuss theprovisions for the implementation of the system and drew up a new version. Some points were howeverleft open during the Group's discussions and were submitted for the opinion of the Committee of Deputies,
namely:-- whether vehicles loaded or unloaded in countries that are not participating in the system (thirdcountries) should be allowed entry under an ECMT licence;-- whether there is any point in requiring that a logbook accompany an ECMT licence since thelogbook no longer exists in the European Communities' context.
The ad hoc Group held another meeting in March 1992 to resolve in particular the difficulties
experienced with regard to the conditions relating to the introduction of the certificate to be carried on
board together with multilateral licences issued for "green lorries" travelling in Austria. The form of thecertificate was approved in principle at the meeting. The original form was confirmed and it was decided
that the Secretariat should make available to countries, on application, as many certificates as theyconsidered would be needed for their existing fleet of "green lorries". At the request of the Austrian
Delegation the Secretariat also agreed to number these certificates and in due course send the Austrianauthorities a list showing the numbers allocated to each country. However, one question remained to beresolved, namely the date on which the lorries would have to start carrying these certificates. Postponed
initially until 16 March 1992 because the various Member countries had not had enough time to meet therequirements of the Austrian authorities, the Group asked these authorities to postpone the entry into force
once again, if possible until 1 January 1993 or, failing that, 1 July 1992.
At the Committee of Deputies' session in April 1992, the Austrian Delegation announced that thedate of entry into force for the certificate had been set at 30 May 1992. All the other delegations
concerned by the system protested against this. Pursuing its work in the absence of the AustrianDelegation, the Committee insisted that the control system should not enter into force before 1 July 1992,
primarily because the Council would have held its Athens Session by that time and would therefore havebeen able to endorse the proposed arrangements.
Likewise at the Committee of Deputies' session, the German Delegation announced that it wasreserving its position on the form adopted for the certificate of conformity for "green lorries" since it
preferred a simpler document issued by the manufacturers of the lorries themselves. In view of the large
number of certificates already issued, it was decided that this matter should be settled on a bilateral basis
in contacts between Austrian and German specialists and that every effort should be made to find asolution before the Council's Athens Session.
However, at its April session the Committee of Deputies also had on its agenda the new provisions
for the implementation of the system (Annex C) and, as regards the two issues it had to settle, there wasclearly no unanimous response. Accordingly, it was decided that the benefits of the system should not beextended to "third countries". As regards discontinuing the use of logbooks, most delegations thought thisto be somewhat premature as they are still used for route controls and statistical purposes.
The Austrian Delegation also requested a number of amendments to Article 4.4 and Article 6.3 ofthe provisions to the effect that the certificate should be carried on board the vehicle together with thelicences issued for "green lorries". The Council decided to meet the Austrian Delegation's request
provided that an addition to Article 4 reproduced in Annex C of the document be added, as far as penalties
when standards are exceeded are concerned.
The Council held in Athens on 11 and 12 June 1992 agreed that the reference to Austrianlegislation in the certificate of conformity with respect to the measurement of noise levels should besupplemented as soon as possible by international norms when these enter into force in the European2Communities. These norms will of course be at least equivalent to those given at present in the control
document, i.e. 78 and 80 dB respectively. The Council was informed that, as matters now stand, theCommunity norms are to be established in 1995 at the latest.
It should also be noted that the Austrian Delegation said during the session that specific controls of
the technical specifications of "green" lorries will not be an additional obstacle to the movement of thesevehicles but will be carried out as spot checks in the context of routine road controls.
The "green" lorry system will start to operate normally, more precisely as from 1 July 1992 whenthe Austrian authorities will definitely require the vehicles concerned to carry a control certificate.
The Council also instructed the Committee of Deputies to consider the scope for a significant
increase in the multilateral quota system and the conditions for the gradual extension of the "green" lorry
concept and to submit specific proposals to it at its next session.

3Annex A

RESOLUTION NO. 91/2 ON THE SITUATION WITH RESPECT TOTHE ECMT MULTILATERAL QUOTA FOR
INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT OF GOODS BY ROAD
AS AT 1ST JANUARY 1992

The Council of Ministers of Transport, meeting in Paris on 21st November 1991,

REFERRING to its decision at its 73rd Session on 22nd May 1991 in Antalya concerning the principleof a 70 per cent increase in the ECMT's multilateral quota with effect from 1st January 1992;

BEARING IN MIND the reservations expressed by certain Member countries and the special
arrangements adopted for the use of licences on Austrian territory whereby each Member country may
choose between:-- using 16 licences as in the past if these licences are allocated to vehicles which have no particularspecifications with respect to environmental disamenities;-- using 27 licences if these licences are allocated to so-called "green" lorries whose technicalspecifications have been established at this stage in accordance with the following standards:a) air pollution:b) noise:

CO: 4.9 g/kWh
HC: 1.23 g/kWh
NOx:Part.:

9.0 g/kWh0.4 g/kWh1

80 dB (A) for vehicles with power over 150 kW
78 dB (A) for vehicles with power up to 150 kW

WISHING to ensure that the new ECMT Member countries -- the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic,
Hungary and Poland -- are fully integrated in all forms of international co-operation within theConference and, accordingly, that they participate immediately in the multilateral quota system;

RECALLING that participation in this system is subject to the fulfilment of a number of priorconditions as laid down in the relevant ECMT Resolutions;CONSIDERING it an appropriate time to update the text setting out the terms on which a multilateralquota for the international transport of goods by road is to be established, as given in Resolution
No. 26 of 1973, as amended on a number of occasions and, more particularly, by subsequent
Resolutions Nos. 29, 31, 34, 42, 46 and 55;

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DECIDES to allocate, with effect from 1st January 1992, part of the multilateral quota to three new
Member countries of the Conference, this part being established during an initial phase at
94 licences for the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, 94 licences for Hungary and 102 licences
for Poland in the context of an overall quota of 2 278 licences, which are allocated among Member
countries in accordance with the table given in Annex I, it being understood that the above
allocations may be changed within the framework of subsequent adjustments to the system;

ADOPTS, in addition, the provisions for the implementation of the ECMT multilateral quota for theinternational transport of goods by road, as set out in Annex II together with its appendices which
are therefore an integral part of this Resolution;

INSTRUCTS the Committee of Deputies to ensure that the system operates efficiently and to consider thescope for subsequent adjustments in due course.

1. In the case of engines of 85 kW or less, a coefficient of 1.7 is applied to the limit value forparticles emissions.

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