5. TRANSPORT POLICY

1. 31993 R 3118: Council Regulation (EEC) No 3118/93 of 25 October 1993 laying down the conditions under which non-resident carriers may operate national road haulage services within a Member State (OJ L 279, 12.11.1993, p. 1), as last amended by:

- 32002 R 0484: Regulation (EC) No 484/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 1.3.2002 (OJ L 76, 19.3.2002, p. 1).

(a) By way of derogation from Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 3118/93 and until the end of the third year following the date of accession, carriers established in Bulgaria shall be excluded from the operation of national road haulage services in the other Member States, and carriers established in the other Member States shall be excluded from the operation of national road haulage services in Bulgaria.

(b) Before the end of the third year following the date of accession, Member States shall notify the Commission whether they will prolong this period for a maximum of two years or whether they will fully apply Article 1 of the Regulation henceforth. In the absence of such notification, Article 1 of the Regulation shall apply. Only carriers established in those Member States in which Article 1 of the Regulation applies may perform national road haulage services in those other Member States in which Article 1 also applies.

(c) Those Member States in which, by virtue of paragraph (b) above, Article 1 of the Regulation applies, may resort to the procedure set out below until the end of the fifth year following the date of accession.

When a Member State referred to in the preceding subparagraph undergoes a serious disturbance of its national market or parts thereof due to or aggravated by cabotage, such as serious excess of supply over demand or a threat to the financial stability or survival of a significant number of road haulage undertakings, that Member State shall inform the Commission and the other Member States thereof and shall supply them with all relevant particulars. On the basis of this information, the Member State may request the Commission to suspend, in whole or in part, the application of Article 1 of the Regulation, in order to restore to normal the situation.

The Commission shall examine the situation on the basis of data provided by the Member State concerned and shall decide within one month of receipt of the request on the need for the adoption of safeguard measures. The procedure laid down in the second, third and fourth subparagraphs of paragraph 3, as well as paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of Article 7 of the Regulation shall apply.

A Member State referred to in the first subparagraph above may, in urgent and exceptional cases, suspend the application of Article 1 of the Regulation, followed by a reasoned ex-post notification to the Commission.

(d) As long as Article 1 of the Regulation is not applied by virtue of paragraphs (a) and (b) above, Member States may regulate access to their national road haulage services by progressively exchanging cabotage authorisations on the basis of bilateral agreements. This may include the possibility of full liberalisation.

(e) The effect of the application of paragraphs (a) to (c) shall not lead to more restrictive access to national road haulage services than that prevailing on the date of signature of the Treaty of Accession.

2. 31996 L 0026: Council Directive 96/26/EC of 29 April 1996 on admission to the occupation of road haulage operator and road passenger transport operator and mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications intended to facilitate for these operators the right to freedom of establishment in national and international transport operations (OJ L 124, 23.5.1996, p. 1), as last amended by:

- 32004 L 0066: Council Directive 2004/66/EC of 26.4.2004 (OJ L 168, 1.5.2004, p. 35).

Until 31 December 2010, Article 3(3)(c) of Directive 96/26/EC shall not apply in Bulgaria to transport undertakings engaged exclusively in domestic road haulage and passenger transport operations.

The available capital and the reserves of those undertakings shall gradually reach the minimum rates laid down in that Article in accordance with the following schedule:

- by 1 January 2007, the undertaking must have available capital and reserves of at least EUR 5850 for the first and at least EUR 3250 for each additional vehicle;

- by 1 January 2008, the undertaking must have available capital and reserves of at least EUR 6750 for the first and at least EUR 3750 for each additional vehicle;

- by 1 January 2009, the undertaking must have available capital and reserves of at least EUR 7650 for the first and at least EUR 4250 for each additional vehicle;

- by 1 January 2010, the undertaking must have available capital and reserves of at least EUR 8550 for the first and at least EUR 4750 for each additional vehicle.

3. 31996 L 0053: Council Directive 96/53/EC of 25 July 1996 laying down for certain road vehicles circulating within the Community the maximum authorised dimensions in national and international traffic and the maximum authorised weights in international traffic (OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 59), as last amended by:

- 32002 L 0007: Directive 2002/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18.2.2002 (OJ L 67, 9.3.2002, p. 47).

By way of derogation from Article 3(1) of Directive 96/53/EC, vehicles complying with the limit values of categories 3.2.1, 3.4.1, 3.4.2, and 3.5.1 specified in Annex I to that Directive may only use non-upgraded parts of the Bulgarian road network until 31 December 2013 if they comply with Bulgarian axle-weight limits.

As from the date of accession, no restrictions may be imposed on the use, by vehicles complying with the requirements of Directive 96/53/EC, of the main transit routes set out in Annex I to Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network [7].

Bulgaria shall adhere to the timetable set out in the tables below for the upgrading of its main road network. Any infrastructure investments involving the use of funds from the Community budget shall ensure that the arteries are constructed or upgraded to a load bearing capacity of 11,5 tonnes per axle.

In line with the completion of the upgrading, there shall be a progressive opening of the Bulgarian road network, including the network as contained in Annex I to Decision No 1692/96/EC, for vehicles in international traffic complying with the limit values of the Directive. For the purpose of loading and unloading, where technically possible, the use of non-upgraded parts of the secondary road network shall be allowed during the entire transitional period.

As from the date of accession, all vehicles in international traffic fitted with air-suspension complying with the limit values of Directive 96/53/EC shall not be subject to any temporary additional charges on the entire Bulgarian road transport network.

Temporary additional charges for using non-upgraded parts of the network with vehicles in international traffic not fitted with air-suspension and complying with the limit values of the Directive shall be levied in a non-discriminatory manner. The charging regime shall be transparent, and payment of these charges shall not place an undue administrative burden or delay on the user, nor shall the payment of these charges lead to a systematic check of axle load limits at the border. Enforcement of axle load limits shall be assured in a non‐discriminatory manner throughout the territory and be effective also as regards vehicles registered in Bulgaria.

Road upgrading programme (km)

Table 1

N | ROAD | SECTION | LENGTH/KM | OPEN TO TRAFFIC | MEASURE |

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

1 | I-5/E-85/ | GABROVO - SHIPKA | 18 | 2014 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

2 | I-5/E-85/ | KARDJALI - PODKOVA (MAKAZA) | 18 | 2008 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

| | SUBTOTAL | 36 | | |

3 | I-6 | SOFIA - PIRDOP | 56 | 2009 | REHABILITATION |

4 | I-7 | SILISTRA - SHUMEN | 88 | 2011 | REHABILITATION |

5 | I-7 | PRESLAV - E-773 | 48 | 2010 | RECONSTRUCTION |

| | SUBTOTAL | 136 | | |

6 | I-9/Е-87/ | ROMANIAN BORDER - BALCHIK | 60 | 2009 | REHABILITATION |

7 | II-12 | VIDIN - SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO BORDER | 26 | 2008 | RECONSTRUCTION |

8 | II-14 | VIDIN - KULA - SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO BORDER | 42 | 2009 | RECONSTRUCTION |

9 | II-18 | SOFIA RING ROAD - NORTH ARCH | 24 | 2014 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

10 | II-19 | SIMITLI - GOTSE DELCHEV - GREEK BORDER | 91 | 2008 | REHABILITATION |

11 | II-29 | DOBRICH - VARNA | 21 | 2010 | REHABILITATION |

12 | II-35 | LOVECH - KARNARE | 28 | 2011 | RECONSTRUCTION |

13 | II-53 | SLIVEN - YAMBOL | 25 | 2010 | REHABILITATION |

14 | II-55 | GURKOVO - NOVA ZAGORA | 26 | 2010 | REHABILITATION |

15 | II-55 | NOVA ZAGORA - SVILENGRAD | 81 | 2012 | REHABILITATION |

| | SUBTOTAL | 107 | | |

16 | II-57 | STARA ZAGORA - RADNEVO | 42 | 2010 | REHABILITATION |

17 | II-62 | KYUSTENDIL - DUPNITSA | 26 | 2011 | RECONSTRUCTION |

18 | II-63 | PERNIK - SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO BORDER | 20 | 2010 | RECONSTRUCTION |

19 | II-73 | SHUMEN - KARNOBAT | 44 | 2012 | RECONSTRUCTION |

20 | II-73 | SHUMEN - KARNOBAT | 19 | 2011 | RECONSTRUCTION |

| | SUBTOTAL | 63 | | |

21 | II-78 | RADNEVO - TOPOLOVGRAD | 40 | 2013 | REHABILITATION |

22 | II-86 | ASENOVGRAD - SMOLYAN | 72 | 2014 | RECONSTRUCTION |

23 | II-98 | BURGAS - MALKO TARNOVO | 64 | 2014 | RECONSTRUCTION |

24 | III-197 | GOTSE DELCHEV - SMOLYAN | 87 | 2013 | RECONSTRUCTION |

25 | III-198 | GOTSE DELCHEV - FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA BORDER | 95 | 2013 | RECONSTRUCTION |

26 | III-534 | ELENA - NOVA ZAGORA | 52 | 2012 | RECONSTRUCTION |

27 | III-534 | NOVA ZAGORA - SIMEONOVGRAD | 53 | 2014 | RECONSTRUCTION |

| | SUBTOTAL | 105 | | |

28 | III-601 | KYUSTENDIL - FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA BORDER | 27 | 2011 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

29 | III-622 | KYUSTENDIL - FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA BORDER | 31 | 2013 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

30 | III-865 | SMOLYAN - MADAN | 15 | 2011 | RECONSTRUCTION |

31 | III-867 | SMOLYAN - KARDJALI | 69 | 2014 | RECONSTRUCTION |

32 | III-868 | BYPASS SMOLYAN | 40 | 2012 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

33 | IV-410068 | SIMITLI - FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA BORDER | 28 | 2009 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

34 | | BYPASS PLOVDIV | 4 | 2014 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

| A1 | "TRAKIA" MOTORWAY - STARA ZAGORA - KARNOBAT | | | |

35 | | LOT 2 | 33 | 2010 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

36 | | LOT 3 | 37 | 2011 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

37 | | LOT 4 | 48 | 2014 | NEW CONSTRUCTION |

| | SUBTOTAL | 118 | | |

| | TOTAL | 1598 | | |

Table 2

| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |

MEASURE | | | | | | | | |

REHABILITATION | 91 | 116 | 114 | 88 | 81 | 40 | 0 | |

RECONSTRUCTION | 26 | 42 | 68 | 88 | 96 | 182 | 258 | |

NEW CONSTRUCTION | 18 | 28 | 33 | 64 | 40 | 31 | 94 | |

| 135 | 186 | 215 | 240 | 217 | 253 | 352 | 1598 km |

[7] OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1. Decision as last amended by Decision No 884/2004/EC (OJ L 167, 30.4.2004, p. 1).

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