30. 7. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 189/17 
Opinion on the amendment, in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 149 of 
the EEC Treaty, to the proposal for a Council Regulation concerning a system for 
observing the markets for the carriage of goods by rail, road and inland waterways 
between the Member States 
The text referred to the Committee has be published in Official Journal of the Euro­
pean Communities No C 35, of 31 December 1980, page 32. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 23 December 1980 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the 
Economic and Social Committee in accordance with Article 75 of the Treaty establish­
ing the European Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
188th plenary session held in Brussels on 26 and 27 May 1981. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­
pean Economic Community, and in particular 
Article 75 thereof, 
Having regard to the request from the Council of the 
European Communities on 23 December 1980 for 
an opinion on the amendment, in accordance with 
the second paragraph of Article 149 of the EEC 
Treaty, to the proposal for a Council Regulation 
concerning a system for observing the markets for 
the carriage of goods by rail, road and inland water­
ways between the Member States (*), 
Having regard to the decision taken by its chairman 
on 19 January 1981, referring the matter to the Sec­
tion for Transport and Communications (Article 22 
of the Rules of Procedure), 
Having regard to the ESC opinion of 30 September 
1976 (2) on the proposal for a Council Regulation 
concerning a system for observing the markets for 
the carriage of goods by rail, road and inland water­
ways between the Member States (3), 
Having regard to the opinion adopted by the above-
mentioned section at its 138th meeting on 13 May 
1981, 
(') OJ No C 351, 31. 12. 1980, p. 32. 
(2) OJNoC281,27. 11. 1976, p. 2. 
(3) OJ No C 1,5. 1. 1976, p. 37. Having regard to the oral report given by the rappor­
teur, Mr Rouzier (Article 29 of the Rules of Proce­
dure), 
Having regard to the discussion at its 188th plenary 
session held on 26 and 27 May 1981 (meeting of 
26 May 1981), 
Whereas the Commission, in its communication to 
the Council of 1 October 1975, laid down the guide­
lines for its policy as regards the organization of the 
market in the transport of goods by land in the 
Community; 
Whereas the Council said at its meeting in June 
1978 that it considered that a system for observing 
the goods transport markets should be set up first of 
all on an experimental basis for a period of three 
years (1979, 1980 and 1981) before any final deci­
sion was taken; 
Whereas the Commission feels, in its report of 
5 December 1980 on the implementation of this 
scheme, that the experience acquired during the trial 
period has been conclusive and that steps should be 
taken to avoid a legal vacuum after the end of the 
experimental period on 31 December 1981, 
Whereas the setting-up of a system for observing 
markets and forecasting trends in the transport sec­
tor must be considered as an essential element of 
such a policy; 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
unanimously: 
No C 189/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 30. 7.81 
1. General comments 
1.1. The report accompanying the Commission's 
proposal for a decision was drawn up and submitted 
before the end of the three-year experimental period 
and is intended to show the Council that the system 
for observing the transport markets is both feasible 
and useful. 
The Commission therefore hopes the Council will 
take a decision before 31 December 1981 which will 
serve as a legal basis for the continuation of work in 
1982 and the implementation of certain details in 
the system recommended. 
1.2. Having considered the Commission's propo­
sal, as amended following the Committee's own 
opinion of 30 September 1976 on this subject, the 
Committee feels that a system for observing the 
markets for the carriage of goods by rail, road and 
inland waterways, based on data which can be com­
pared at Community level, would be useful for all 
future projects in the transport sector. 
1.3. The Committee also feels that the system pro­
posed by the Commission, after a trial period, 
would be feasible, provided, however, that the 
necessary financial resources were available. 
Despite the difficulties frequently encountered in 
this area, the Committee nevertheless considers that 
it would be unwise and premature to decide to 
abandon the work carried out hitherto. 
1.4. On the other hand, the Committee feels that 
all the available statistics should first be assessed, as 
should the effectiveness of the existing statistical 
instruments, before firm proposals are made for the 
creation of costly additional instruments. This view 
is based on the fact that funds will always be limited 
and available resources should be used sparingly. 
1.5. In connection with this, the Committee would 
point out that the Community already has a number 
of instruments covering this subject at the present 
time, namely: 
— the Council Directive of 12 June 1978 on statist­
ical returns in respect of carriage of goods by 
road as part of regional statistics (J); 
— the Council Directive of 17 November 1980 on 
statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods 
by inland waterways (2) and — the Council Directive of 4 December 1980 on 
statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods 
by rail as part of regional statistics (3). 
1.6. As far as inland waterways traffic is con­
cerned, the Central Rhine Commission also has an 
information system which provides valuable data. 
1.7. The use of existing data therefore already pro­
vides a certain amount of harmonized information, 
broken down by sector. 
1.8. In addition to the use of this information, the 
Committee is strongly in favour of attempts at har­
monization, designed to make national statistics 
more compatible with what is needed for EEC pur­
poses, without necessarily expanding national sta­
tistical programmes. 
1.9. The practical experiences, of the trial period 
have confirmed some of the Committee's doubts 
concerning the market observation system's capacity 
to function and provide data if the necessary 
resources are not available. The main reasons for 
this are as follows: \ 
— the data concern only cross-frontier traffic, and 
therefore only part of the market, 
— no account is taken of domestic or third-country 
traffic. 
2. Specific comments 
As regards the main substance of the Commission 
proposal, the Committee expresses the following 
views and reservations: 
2.1. The market observation system is feasible. But 
it should be noted that the implementation of the 
system is made possible by choosing an approach 
which would avoid certain difficulties which arise in 
practice. Although the sources of statististical infor­
mation and methodologies used often vary enor­
mously, the Commission does not seem to have any 
difficulty in integrating them into its own system by 
amplifying them through fairly small surveys and 
opinion polls. 
(0 OJ No L 168, 26. 6. 1978. 
(2) OJ No L 339, 15. 12. 1980. (3) OJ No L 350, 23. 12. 1980. 
30. 7. 81 Official Journal of the 
2.2. The Committee thinks that the Commission is 
more reluctant now about equipping the Com­
munity with a harmonized system of transport statis­
tics than it was at the beginning of the 1970s. But 
the methodology adopted seems to be easier to put 
rapidly into operation and more empirical than 
scientific. 
2.3. The analyses which can be carried out will 
therefore be basically the product of reasoning pro­
cesses of the management chart type. But even if 
one does know exactly what techniques have been 
used for each item of information on the manage­
ment chart, one will still not have an overall metho­
dology for interpreting the results. 
2.4. Although feasible, the system is not at present 
operational — as far as road transport is concerned 
— except for those parts of it involved in carrying 
out quarterly opinion surveys and forecasting results 
in the short term. 
2.5. The 'price monitoring' machinery is only oper­
ational at present in the Netherlands, though it is 
shortly to come into operation in France and Ger­
many, and the 'costs' part of the system has only 
just got to the end of the feasibility study stage. 
2.6. As far as costs are concerned, the Committee 
notes that it may perhaps be difficult to obtain relia­
ble results for the links between the 30 regions of the 
Community and for each of the 10 goods categories 
in the NST. But such work is essential in order to 
interpret price trends on these same links. 
Done at Brussels, 26 May 1981. lean Communities No C 189/19 
2.7. As the system is also a useful one, it will cer­
tainly make it possible, in the Committee's view, to 
identify trends in progress rapidly. 
However, the assessment of the state of balance 
between supply and demand and of the changes to 
be made as regards capacity seems to be a more del­
icate matter. For this reason the strongest reserva­
tions need to be expressed as to the possibilities of 
using the findings when laying down bilateral quo­
tas. 
2.8. Finally, the Committee would refer to its 
views concerning the creation and proliferation of 
advisory committees. With reference to the consul­
tation procedure laid down in Article 6 of the Com­
mission proposal, the Committee would emphasize 
the need to involve representatives of the two sides 
of industry and the users of the transport sectors 
represented within it under this procedure. The 
Committee therefore regrets, notwithstanding its 
reservations about the creation of another such 
Committee, that, contrary to the original proposal, 
this body will be made up solely of representatives 
of the Member States with the power to hear repre­
sentations from representatives of transport under­
takings, users, providers of services ancillary to 
transport, transport workers' unions and other 
experts. The Committee feels this consultation 
should be obligatory. 
3. Subject to the comments set out above, the 
Committee approves the Commission's proposal. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Tomas ROSEINGRAVE