COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 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

1. BACKGROUND

A. On 17 May 1999, the Commission transmitted to the European Parliament and to the Council a proposal for a 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 final - 1999/0083 (COD)). [1]

[1] OJ C 171, 18.06.1999, p. 17

B. On 22 September 1999 [2], the Economic and Social Committee delivered a favourable opinion. On 18 January 2000 [3], Parliament delivered its opinion (first reading) on the proposal. Having considered the amendments proposed by Parliament, the Commission presented an amended proposal on 19 April 2000 [4].

[2] OJ C 329, 17.11.1999, p. 10.

[3] OJ C...

[4] OJ C...

C. The Council adopted the common position on 26 June 2000.

2. SUBJECT OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

Council Directive 94/55/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road entered into force on 1 January 1997.

The Directive includes a number of transitional provisions valid until 1 January 1999, to permit completion of standardisation work by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the amendment of certain provisions of the Annexes to the European Agreement on the international carriage of goods by road (ADR).

However, because this work has been delayed the time limit laid down in the Directive is no longer appropriate and there are short-term application problems.

These are :

1. The first problem concerns Article 6 (4) on receptacles for transporting class 2 gases and tanks, a provision valid until 1 January 1999.

Because the standardisation work has been delayed, only a very limited number of standards were incorporated in the 1999 version of the Annexes to the ADR. The absence of standards, and strict application of the time limit, mean that Member States whose national laws do not conform to the Annexes to the ADR will have to draw up new national legislation and apply it with effect from 1 January 1999. When the standards are incorporated in the Annexes to the ADR (1 January 2001 for most types of equipment), they will have to amend their national legislation again.

2. The second problem concerns Article 5(3)(b) on the centres of gravity of tank vehicles, a transitional provision valid until 31 December 1998.

The amendments to the provisions of Annex B of the ADR concerning the centres of gravity of tank vehicles have not been formally adopted yet, so they were not incorporated in the 1999 version of the Annex. This means that countries concerned by this transitional provision (Denmark, Norway) will have to amend their current legislation in the light of the provisions currently in force and apply it with effect from 1 January 1999. When the amended provisions of the Annexes to the ADR enter into force - probably on 1 January 2001 - they will have to amend their national legislation again.

3. The third problem concerns the final paragraph of Article 1(2)(c) which provides that "Before 31 December 1998 the Commission shall present to the Council a report assessing the safety aspect covered by this provision, together with an appropriate proposal for its continuation or repeal." As the CEN quality assurance standard has not yet been adopted and is therefore not yet applied, the Commission cannot prepare a report on the subject. Besides solving these short-term application problems, the Commission proposal aims to restore consistency between the references to the provisions of the Annexes and the content of the Annexes (they were amended in 1997 and 1999). The other objective of the proposal is to amend certain provisions of Article 6 in order to expand on certain derogations, their long-term treatment and their acceptance procedure.

3. COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

3.1 General remarks

The main differences between the Commission proposal and the common position concern the expiry dates of certain transitional provisions and the cut-off date introduced for requesting derogations for the transport of small quantities or for local transport operations. The other departures from the original proposal incorporate all Parliament's amendments.

3.2 Amendments adopted by Parliament

3.2.1 Amendments accepted by the Commission and incorporated in the common position

- Amendment 1 concerning the addition of a new recital has been incorporated (ninth recital).

- Amendment 2 concerning the addition of another point in Article 5 (3) of Directive 94/55/EC (Article 1(2)).

- Amendment 3 concerning the amendment of Article 6(3) of Directive 94/55/EC (Article 1(3)(a)).

- Amendment 4 concerning the amendment of Article 9 of Directive 94/55/EC (Article 1(5)).

3.2.2 Amendments accepted by the Commission which have not been incorporated in the common position

All Parliament's amendments have been accepted by the Commission and incorporated in the common position.

3.3 The common position makes the following significant changes to the Commission's amended proposal (references in brackets are to the provisions of the common position)

- The expiry date of the transitional provision laid down in Article 5(3)(b) of Directive 94/55/EC concerning the centres of gravity of tank-vehicles has been extended to 30 June 2005 for tank-vehicles not yet covered by the special provision referred to in point 3 of Annex C (first indent of Article 1(2)(b)).

- The expiry date of the transitional provision laid down in Article 6(6) of Directive 94/55/EC applicable to plastic packaging has been extended to 30 June 2001 for packages not exceeding 20 litres (Article 1(3)(c)).

- There is a cut-off date for requesting derogations from Article 6 (9) of Directive 94/55/EC concerning the transport of small quantities and local transport operations (Article 1(3)(d)).

3.4 Committee procedures

In accordance with Parliament's amendment (No 4), the common position has amended Article 9 of Directive 94/55/EC in order to ensure consistency with Decision 1999/468/EC [5] on committee procedures.

[5] OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

3.5 Conclusion

The common position adopted by the Council incorporates all Parliament's amendments. The other changes are consistent with the objectives of the Commission proposal (indents 1 and 3 of point 3.3). The Commission accepts the new derogation for plastic packaging not exceeding twenty litres in capacity (indent 2 of point 3.3) since such packaging is used for distribution to the final consumer, so the derogation does not constitute a barrier to trade within the Community. Consequently, the Commission delivers a favourable opinion on the common position as a whole.