Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 96/26/EC 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` () (97/C 287/06)

On 19 February 1997, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 75(1) of the Treaty, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Transport and Communications, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 5 May 1997. The rapporteur was Mr Wright.

At its 346th plenary session (meeting of 28 May), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 90 votes for, one vote against and 4 abstentions.

1. General comments

1.1. The Committee welcomes the Commission proposal for a Council directive amending directive 96/26/EC on admissions to the occupation of road haulage operator and road passenger transport operator. The Committee further supports the main objectives of the amending directive, namely (a) to provide transitional arrangements for the application of the amended directive to the new Member States of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and (b) to improve the provision for the assessment of financial standing, good repute and professional competence in order to rectify the divergencies in these matters which still exist between Member States and thereby to remove imbalances which have lead to distortions of competition and (c) to enlarge the scope of the directive to cover vehicles with a permissible payload of less than 3,5 tonnes or with a total laden capacity of less than six tonnes.

1.2. Since Directive 96/26/EC was intended to codify earlier Directives [74/561/EEC (), 74/562/EEC (), 77/796/EEC ()] all of which were supported by previous Committee opinions, the present document is confined to commenting only on the amendments and additions to Directive 96/26/EC.

2. Specific comments

2.1. The Committee accepts that there is a justification for action at Community level. It notes the progress in establishing a common market for road transport but accepts the Commission's view that harmonization is constrained by differences which remain in legislation between Member States. In view of this, and the fact that national licences will be replaced by an EU licence in 1998, there is an urgent need for action at Community level to remove those elements which distort competition in order to create fairer conditions for road transport operators in their business activities.

2.2. The Commission's contention that improvements to the assessment of professional competence would increase the level of knowledge amongst operators and be in the interests of the operators, of road safety, the environment, the shippers, and ultimately of society at large, is fully supported by the Committee.

2.3. The Committee recognizes that because of the general tendency towards deregulation, the ongoing liberalization of cabotage in the transport sector and the market driven expansion of transport services, there is a clear need to enlarge the scope of the directive.

2.4. The Committee supports the specific proposals which widen the scope of Directive 96/26/EC, namely:

- Article 2, paragraph 1;

- Article 3, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph (a) and sub-paragraph (c); paragraph 4, sub-paragraph 1;

- Article 5 as modified and new sub-paragraph 3;

- Article 6, the two new sub-paragraphs added to paragraph 1;

- Articles 7, 8 and 10 as modified;

- Annexe (parts I and II) as proposed.

2.5. With regard to the proposed amendments to Article 3, sub-paragraph (c), the Committee takes the view that the financial thresholds set out which are intended as a test of financial standing should be further increased. The Committee notes the significant differences which exist at Member State level in this regard as detailed in the Commission's report to the Council (COM(93) 341 final). Accordingly, the Committee proposes that the financial requirements cited in the new paragraph 3, sub-paragraph (c) should in future be subjected to regular review, certainly not less than every 5 years, in order to ensure at least that the real value of these thresholds can be maintained.

2.6. The Committee welcomes the fact that the Commission is giving greater emphasis to commercial competence and knowledge in the proposed written test as set out in Annexes I and II. However, concerning the proposed changes to Article 3, paragraph 4, the Committee contends that whilst the acquisition of knowledge and competence, as set out in the article and amplified in Annexe (parts I and II), are a necessary condition, they do not provide a sufficient test and assurance of the application of the said knowledge and competence. To this end, the Committee proposes that transport operators should be assessed by the competent authorities to ensure that they have properly implemented the requirements as set out in Article 3 sub-paragraph 1, this as with the assessment set out in the two new sub-paragraphs to Article 6 paragraph 1 namely an assessment every 5th year with a further assessment between the 2nd and 3rd year of any 5 year period.

2.7. The Committee finally would draw attention to the increasing involvement of transport operators in bilateral trade involving goods and/or passengers between Member States and countries from central and eastern Europe. In the spirit of harmonization which is still being pursued within the European Union and with the intention of avoiding competition distorting practices and promoting a 'level playing field`, the Committee calls upon the Commission and Council to give urgent consideration to the extension of the influence of the proposed amended directive to transport operators located in countries of central and eastern Europe who are involved in bilateral trade with Member States.

Brussels, 28 May 1997.

The President of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS

() OJ C 95, 24. 3. 1997, p. 66.

() Directive 74/561/EEC on the admission to the occupation of road haulage operator (OJ L 308, 19. 11. 1974, p. 18); ESC opinion: OJ C 49, 17. 5. 1968, p. 2.

() Directive 74/562/EEC on the admission to the occupation of road passenger transport operator (OJ L 308, 19. 11. 1974, p. 23); ESC opinion: OJ C 26, 28. 2. 1969, p. 8.

() Directive 77/796/EEC on the mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications (OJ L 334, 24. 12. 1977, p. 35); ESC opinion: OJ C 197, 23. 8. 1976, p. 35.