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if we look at the situation where safety advisers are concerned in a number of countries it is compulsory to employ such safety advisers in companies as from 1 january of this year

there will be major problems with enforcing this rule at present especially with smaller companies as these cannot afford safety advisors

these smaller companies either dispose of their cargo or mix it with other cargo which causes problems

it is therefore also being requested that iso 9002 certificates possibly include the finer details of these activities in the form of annual reports and company analyses

the work is done all that remains is the business of enforcement

i would like to mention one final point

with regard to enforcement proper agreements must also be concluded with the eastern european countries because they will not enter into treaties which deal with this matter until 1 july 2001 that is to say in eighteen months' time

this gives them a competitive edge for the interim period

this is not in itself anything dreadful but we should prioritise particularly the safety aspects for goods transported by road rail and inland waterways and incorporate these as part of the acquis communautaire as soon as possible and present them to the acceding states

madam president the importance of transport safety is highlighted on a regular basis in this parliament and rightly so

the ever increasing volume of goods passing through europe entails all kinds of risks known and unknown for employees and the social environment

those having to deal with these risks should therefore meet stringent requirements

the relevant standards which have been laid down in another directive 95/35/ec seem sufficiently adequate to advise people in a responsible manner on the organisation of the transport of dangerous goods

i am very pleased that agreement has also been reached with the council on minimum standards regarding examinations although i would have preferred it if uniform set standards and modules had been established so that certificates would be of equal value internationally

this however does not seem feasible

finally the amendment tabled by the rapporteur is perfectly logical and i can therefore give it my wholehearted support

mr president commissioner i should first like to congratulate mr koch on his reports which though technical are nonetheless of very great significance for safety

i should like to make just a few comments

firstly i should like to ask the commissioner and i am convinced that my request will fall on fertile ground to ensure that more attention is paid to the issue of safety be it on the roads on the waterways or at sea

considering that it is only today that we are dealing with a commission proposal first made on 19 march 1998 even though parliament responded relatively quickly this time lag is a little too long

this is not just the fault of the commission but i believe that we need to take action more quickly so as to achieve harmonisation in this area as well

my second point has already been mentioned it concerns the minimum standards

in principle i believe that in many cases where transport is concerned we should be working towards increased flexibility and countryspecific rules

however when it comes to safety i am rather sceptical because safety in sweden for example is in principle no different from safety in germany italy or austria

i can live with these minimum standards but i would ask the commission to monitor the situation very carefully

should flexibility of this kind result in there being inadequate rules in some countries then we should work towards greater harmonisation

my third point has also been mentioned already

as you know like mr rack i come from a transit country where this issue plays a particularly important role

we do not want to make the conditions of competition worse for some countries unilaterally and improve them for countries such as austria or other transit countries

but i believe that we should do all we can to keep the transport of dangerous goods to a minimum in all countries whether they are transit countries or not

mr president i would firstly like to congratulate the rapporteur mr koch on his magnificent work and his positive cooperation with the commission with regard to improving the texts and presenting this report and this proposal in the end there is only one amendment on the requirements for the aptitude examination for safety advisers in the transport of dangerous goods by road rail or inland waterway

we understand that it is important that the two institutions parliament and commission cooperate and work together and that the current cooperation with the committee on regional policy and in particular the transport group is magnificent

the common position includes practically all of the amendments accepted by the commission and harmonises the minimum examination requirements for safety advisers and at second reading we can accept the amendment on the proposed date which is much more realistic than the one originally suggested by the commission bearing in mind that we have now spent several years debating this question

very briefly i would like to thank the various members for their interventions and to tell you that safety is one of the commission' s priorities in the field of transport

as mr simpson has said very correctly this is a process which we can never take for granted or regard as having come to an end

the process of increasing safety margins and safety guarantees in transport is a process which must be improved day by day

in this regard i would also like to refer very briefly to the problems of the tunnels which messrs rack and swoboda have referred to which in the case of austria is doubtless a very sensitive issue and great effort should be made to improve their safety

in one of the worst accidents to have occurred recently the goods being transported were not dangerous in themselves

margarine and a few kilos of paint which in principle do not present risks led to a genuine disaster

therefore we will have to see how the requirements guaranteeing the maximum degree of safety can be further improved

finally i would like to say that we have to consider safety in all types of transport

this week we will be holding a debate here on the safety of sea transport in light of the erika disaster and in the course of this year we will have to discuss our objectives in terms of the safety of air transport

but i would like to say that safety is a priority objective for the commission

as i will say in the debate on the erika disaster we do not wait until there is a disaster to deal with the question of safety but we work on it even when there are no such circumstances which simply serve to demonstrate the urgency for an effective response to this type of problem

i would like to repeat my appreciation to all the speakers and especially to the rapporteur mr koch

the debate is closed

the vote will take place tomorrow at 12 pm

transport of dangerous goods by road

the next item is the report (a50104/1999) by mr koch on behalf of the committee on regional policy transport and tourism on the proposal for a european parliament and council directive amending directive 94/55/ec on the approximation of the laws of the member states with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road [com(1999) 158 c50004/1999 1999/0083(cod)]

mr president commissioner ladies and gentlemen the directive on the approximation of the laws of the member states with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road which entered into force on 1 january 1997 contains a number of transitional provisions which are only valid for a limited period of time the term of validity being linked to the completion of specific standardisation work by the cen that is the european committee for standardisation

delays in the cen' s work are now making it difficult to apply this very directive

in particular annexes cannot be adapted to take account of technical and industrial developments

i regret this since we are having to take action because others have not done their job

in this respect i accept this proposal to amend directive 94/55/ec which has been tabled for discussion today

should the european union fail to take action then member states would be obliged to amend their national legislation for a very brief period until the cen completes its work which would cause unnecessary cost and uncertainty

the amendment to the directive on today's agenda does not therefore affect the existing harmonisation of the transport of dangerous goods in the community

it merely prolongs transitional rules by postponing deadlines deletes provisions which are no longer applicable and lays down the procedures for a) carrying out the ad hoc transportation of dangerous goods and b) enacting less stringent national regulations in particular for the transport of very small amounts of dangerous goods within strictly defined local areas

the amendment to the directive is consequently in full accordance with the principle of subsidiarity the member states obtain more powers

the commission decides whether the member states may impose certain rules of their own

in so doing it is supported by a committee of experts on the transport of dangerous goods under the regulatory procedure

the procedures for the exercise of these implementing powers conferred on the commission were laid down afresh in the council decision of june 1999

the proposal to be discussed today to amend the directive on the transport of dangerous goods by road dates from may 1999 however and could not therefore take account of the latest comitology procedure

two of the amendments tabled and adopted unanimously by the committee relate precisely to this amended comitology procedure

we would like to ensure that there is a reference to this as early as the recitals and that the period within which the council has to make a decision which is not clearly worded is set at a maximum of three months

in addition the need for greater transparency has been pointed out

a further amendment allows the member states to impose more stringent requirements in particular for vacuum tanks if work is done or goods are transported as a priority in temperatures well below 20ºc

this is in the special interest of northern european regions

a final amendment is intended to ensure that tanks and tankers put into service between 1 january 1997 and the entry into force of this directive may continue to be used provided that they have been constructed and maintained in accordance with it

i do realise that this is only a small step towards increased transport safety but i would ask you to endorse this report

mr president colleagues a happy new year and millennium to you all

i am speaking for the first time in this plenary partsession so this is quite exciting for me a little like first love although that did last longer than two minutes

i would like to briefly comment on the commission' s proposal to amend the directive on the transport of dangerous goods by road

it is good that this directive should be established now as otherwise member states would have to amend their national acts for a very short time a period of transition which would again mean unnecessary costs and which would once more increase concern with regard to eu bureaucracy

the commission' s proposal however does not take account of all the facts such as the cold climate that prevails in the northern regions

consequently i have tabled some amendments to mr koch' s intrinsically excellent report which have been adopted by our committee

my amendments concern the frostresistance ratings for tankers carrying these dangerous goods

according to the commission' s proposal 20ºc would have been sufficient

on the shores of the mediterranean it is hard to imagine that in lapland temperatures can fall considerably lower than that

there is support for the eu in lapland also so let us remember them

i have thus proposed that the frost rating be lowered to 40ºc

this would be necessary to keep safety standards at the level they were in northern regions previously

i hope my proposal will be taken into consideration in tomorrow' s vote

mr president with your permission i should like to begin by expressing my admiration for the way in which you executed the quick changeover of the chairmanship just now during the debate

i thought that it was quite superb

on the subject at hand i think that the people of europe must be able to be confident that the goods however dangerous they are which are transported on europe's roads railways and so on are as safe as possible

this directive is a contribution to this

what we are doing today is essentially a nuisance

the rapporteur mr koch to whom we express our thanks for the work which he has done on this has already pointed out that basically everything could have been somewhat more advanced had it not been for the inactivity on the part of the cen which has been very dilatory in drawing up and adapting the directive

that is why we can only hope and we should resolve all of this this week that in 2001 we will finally have community regulations for the transport of dangerous goods by road so that we have a degree of legal certainty here and also so that our roads are a good deal safer

mr president the report we are discussing here does not in itself entail any major changes

most of the proposed amendments are of a purely technical nature it is nonetheless worth emphasising that each time we make this type of decision it is good from a broad environmental perspective and it is beneficial because it creates better prior conditions for exploiting the possibilities of the internal market

very large quantities of dangerous goods are transported around the eu both on roads and railways and by sea

this makes it necessary to have proper rules governing transport of this kind

in area after area we are now obtaining common minimum regulations for the member states

this is extraordinarily positive and there is cause to thank the rapporteur mr koch for the work he has put in on this issue

this is also important where the prerequisites for the internal market are concerned

if we are to get a common transport market genuinely up and running it is important that we should not only have regulations but that these regulations should also as far as possible apply to every country

i should like to conclude by commenting on a third matter which is also of significance namely an amendment tabled by member of parliament mr ari vatanen

in many ways the prerequisites differ from one member state to another

by approving this amendment we take account of the fact that it can be very cold in the northern parts of the european union