COMMISSION DECISION
of 4 March 2005
authorising Member States to adopt certain derogations pursuant to Directive 94/55/EC with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road
(notified under document number C(2005) 440)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2005/263/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Directive 94/55/EC of 21 November 1994 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road (1), and in particular Article 6(9) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Pursuant to Article 6(9) of Directive 94/55/EC, Member States must give the Commission an advance notification on their derogations for the first time by 31 December 2002 or until two years after the last date of application of the amended versions of the Annexes to the Directive.
(2)
Certain Member States had notified the Commission by 31 December 2002 of their wish to adopt derogations from Directive 94/55/EC. By Decision 2003/635/EC of 20 August 2003 authorising Member States pursuant to Directive 94/55/EC to adopt certain derogations with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road (2), the Commission authorised the adoption by the Member States of the derogations listed in Annexes I and II to that Decision.
(3)
Commission Directive 2003/28/EC (3) amended Annexes A and B to Directive 94/55/EC. By virtue of Directive 2003/28/EC Member States had to bring into force national legislation no later than 1 July 2003, the last date of application referred to in Article 6(9) of Directive 94/55/EC being 30 June 2003.
(4)
A few Member States notified their wish to adopt derogations. The Commission has examined the notifications for compliance with the conditions laid down in Article 6(9) of Directive 94/55/EC and has approved them. Those Member States should therefore be authorised to adopt the derogations in question.
(5)
By the same occasion, it is considered desirable to assemble all the derogations authorised to date in a single decision. Decision 2003/635/EC should therefore be repealed and replaced.
(6)
To make sure that the situation of the derogations is updated regularly, the Commission shall propose a comprehensive update of all existing derogations at least every five years.
(7)
The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on the transport of dangerous goods, set up by Article 9 of Directive 94/55/EC,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
Member States listed in Annex I are authorised to implement the derogations set out in Annex I regarding the transportation by road within their territory of small quantities of certain dangerous goods.
These derogations shall be applied without discrimination.
Article 2
Member States listed in Annex II are authorised to implement the derogations set out in Annex II regarding to local transport limited to their territory.
These derogations shall be applied without discrimination.
Article 3
Decision 2003/635/EC is repealed.
References to the repealed Decision shall be construed as references to this Decision.
Article 4
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 4 March 2005.