COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION of 5 November 1973 to the Belgian Government on the draft Arrêté royal "laying down special rules for the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus" (73/348/EEC)

On 23 May 1973 the Office of the Belgian Permanent Representative wrote to the Commission enclosing a draft Arrêté royal (Royal Decree) implementing the following: - Council Regulation No 117/66/EEC of 28 July 1966 (1),

- Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1016/68 of 9 July 1968 (2),

- Council Regulation (EEC) No 516/72 of 28 February 1972 (3),

- Council Regulation (EEC) No 517/72 of 28 February 1972 (4),

- Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1172/72 of 26 May 1972 (5),

- Decision M (68)22 of the Committee of Ministers of the Benelux Economic Union of 11 December 1968 (6).

This constitutes consultation with the Commission as required under: - Article 10 of Regulation No 117/66/EEC,

- Article 6 of Regulation (EEC) No 1016/68,

- Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 516/72,

- Article 22 of Regulation (EEC) No 517/72.

As regards Regulation (EEC) No 1172/72, the letter from the Permanent Representative's Office is to be regarded as informing the Commission pursuant to Article 6 of the provisions adopted by the Belgian Government in this matter.

Before announcing the details of its recommendation, the Commission wishes to express its regret at the fact that the Belgian Government did not observe the dates fixed for the establishment of implementing measures provided for in the relevant Community regulations.

Concerning the provisions of the Draft Belgian Arrêté royal, the Commission recommends as follows: 1. It notes that Article 3 of the draft Arrêté incorporates certain provisions of the Community Regulations listed above.

Pursuant to Article 189 of the Treaty, the provisions of those Regulations are directly applicable in the Member States ; in this particular case, they have been in force since 1 January 1973. It is therefore unnecessary for them to be incorporated in national legislative acts. To do so could moreover raise doubts as to the entry into force or direct applicability of Community Regulations as such. Even the partial repetition of provisions of a Community Regulation in a national legislative act is acceptable at the very most only if indispensable in order to render such an act comprehensible to those who have to consult it.

The Commission consequently recommends that the Belgian Government should omit from Article 3 of the draft Arrêté, in as much as it refers to Regulation (EEC) No 516/72 and Regulation (EEC) No 517/72, the obligation on carriers to keep on board the vehicle certain control documents, as the said Regulations already make provision for such an obligation.

2. Under Article 5 carriers are required to supply all statistical data requested by the Minister of Communications or any person acting on his behalf. This provision concerns all types of services including occasional services as referred to in Article 3 of Regulation No 117/66/EEC.

In this respect, the Commission points out that it forwarded to the Council on 23 March 1972 a "proposal for a Council Decision on returns relating to the international carriage of passengers by bus and coach carried out in the form of occasional services (7)". The Opinions both of the European Parliament (8) and of the Economic and Social Committee (9) on this proposal were favourable. In these circumstances, the Commission recommends that the Belgian Government should not introduce unilateral provisions for statistics relating to occasional services, but should wait for the Council to adopt the abovementioned proposal. (1)OJ No 147, 9.8.1966, p. 2688/66. (2)OJ No L 173, 22.7.1968, p. 8. (3)OJ No L 67, 20.3.1972, p. 13. (4)Ibid., p. 19. (5)OJ No L 134, 12.6.1972, p. 1. (6)Ministerial decisions - Supplement 26, basic texts, p. 966. (7)Final document COM (72) 272, 21.3.1972. (8)OJ No C 129, 11.12.1972, p. 12. (9)OJ No C 142, 31.12.1972, p. 13.

3. Article 6 of the draft Arrêté is intended to lay down the implementing measures provided for in Article 6 of Regulation (EEC) No 1016/68 ; however it fails to determine the period of validity for the book of passenger waybills as prescribed by that Article.

The Commission consequently recommends that the Belgian Government should supplement the provisions of Article 6 of the draft Arrêté in this respect.

4. The provisions of Article 7 of the draft Arrêté apply to the international carriage of passengers between the Benelux countries or between Benelux countries and third countries using Benelux territory.

On this point, the Commission points out that the phrase "Third Countries" leaves a doubt as to which country it wishes to nominate and that a clearer definition is required to avoid ambiguity.

Accordingly, the Commission recommends the Belgian Government to replace the phrase "Third Countries" by "non-member countries of the European Community".

5. Moreover, paragraph 1 of Article 7 contains a definition of occasional services. In this respect, the Commission would point out that the definition of "occasional services" contained in Article 3 of Regulation No 117/66/EEC is applicable to all carriage of passengers between Member States, including the Benelux countries. The Commission notes moreover that the definition contained in Article 7 of the draft Arrêté, which is taken from Decision M(68)22 of the Committee of Ministers of the Benelux Economic Union of 11 December 1968, differs from that adopted in Regulation No 117/66/EEC. The definition in the draft concerned could therefore apply only to carriage between Benelux countries and non-member countries of the European Communities ; it is, however, desirable that transport operations of this type should be covered like any others by the definition contained in Article 3 of Regulation No 117/66/EEC, particularly in view of the proposal for a "Decision relating to the opening of negotiations for an agreement between the EEC and certain third countries on the rules to be applied to the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus" (1), the purpose of which is, inter alia to extend to carriage between the EEC and non-member countries the definitions of the various types of road passenger services laid down under Regulation No 117/66/EEC.

The Commission consequently recommends that the Belgian Government should amend the provisions of Article 7 of the draft Arrêté accordingly.

6. The Commission notes that the other provisions of the draft Arrêté comply with the obligations devolving on Member States pursuant to the Community Regulations concerned.

Done at Brussels, 5 November 1973.

For the Commission

The President

François-Xavier ORTOLI (1)Doc. COM (72) 1685 final, 4.1.1973.