COMMON POSITION (EC) No 42/96 adopted by the Council on 27 June 1996 with a view to adopting Council Regulation (EC) No . . ./96 of . . . amending Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 on the granting of aids for transport by rail, road and inland waterway (96/C 264/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 75 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189c of the Treaty (3),

Whereas point 1 of Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 (4) provides that the Member States may grant aid designed to facilitate the development of more economic transport systems and technologies for the community in general, and the development of combined transport;

Whereas the costs of loading and unloading form a significant part of the total cost of transport by inland waterway; whereas it is essential to the development of inland waterway transport for major investments to be made to render loading and unloading installations and equipment for interland waterway terminals more efficient and better suited to the current logistical requirements; whereas, to this end, it is important that aid granted by the Member States or through State resources can be made available to the undertakings concerned;

Whereas harmonized conditions should be laid down for the granting of this aid for the development of inland waterway transport and whereas the impact of the aid must be assessed at regular intervals;

Whereas this aid must be granted for a sufficiently long period for the said investment to have the time to win over the market and bring new traffic to inland waterways and whereas the Council should decide on subsequent arrangements,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Sole Article

The following shall be added to point 1 of Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70:

'(f) up to 31 December 1999, where aid is granted on a temporary basis and is designed to facilitate the development of inland waterway transport, such aid having to be either:

- investments in the infrastructure of inland waterway terminals, or - investments in the fixed and mobile equipment needed for loading and unloading.` The aid granted may not exceed 50 % of the total amount of investment.

The purpose of the aid shall be to develop new or additional transport tonnage on the inland waterway. The beneficiaries must comply with the detailed arrangements laid down by the Member State concerned and shall be responsible for the actual carrying out of the investment.

Every two years the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council a progress report on the implementation of the measures, stating in particular the purpose of the aid, the amount and its impact on inland waterway transport. The Member States shall provide the Commission with the information needed to draw up this report.

No later than 31 July 1999 the Council shall decide, on a proposal from the Commission and under the conditions set out in the Treaty, on subsequent arrangements or, where appropriate, on the conditions for terminating the arrangements.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Luxembourg, . . .

For the Council The President

(1) OJ No C 318, 29. 11. 1995, p. 12.

(2) OJ No C 39, 12. 2. 1996, p. 96.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 February 1996 (OJ No C 65, 4. 3. 1996, p. 33), common position of the Council of 27 June 1996 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Decision of the European Parliament of . . . (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ No L 130, 15. 6. 1970, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 3578/92 (OJ No L 364, 12. 12. 1992, p. 11).

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

On 15 September 1995 the Commission submitted to the Council a proposal for a Regulation, based on Article 75 (1) of the EC Treaty, amending Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 on the granting of aids for transport by rail, road and inland waterway (1).

The European Parliament delivered its opinion on 13 February 1996 (2). The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 23 November 1995 (3).

In the light of those opinions, the Commission sent the Council an amended proposal on 22 April 1996 (4).

The Council adopted its common position, in accordance with Article 189c of the EC Treaty, on 27 June 1996.

II. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL

The general aim of the Commission proposal is to promote the use of waterways, which in more than one way represent a mode of transport with advantages for society, being environment-friendly, showing a high standard of safety, saving energy and helping to ease congestion on the overcrowded road network in north-western Europe. However, better use of waterways often requires considerable investment in shippers' internal logistical facilities (quays and loading and unloading equipment), which may form a sizeable obstacle to the promotion of waterways. A temporary support scheme for investment in inland waterway terminals therefore needs to be introduced.

This Commission proposal also forms part of the supporting measures for the proposal for a Directive on the organization of the inland waterway market, involving the discontinuation of systems of chartering by rotation.

III. ASSESSMENT OF THE COMMON POSITION

The common position adopted by the Council is largely in line with the original Commission proposal. Nevertheless, the third subparagraph in Article 1 has been reworded so as not now explicitly to require an undertaking by aid beneficiaries to provide new or additional tonnage, failing which aid must be repaid to the competent authorities.

The Council did not see the justification for this repayment clause, particularly since there was no such provision in the other parts of Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70. On the other hand, in the new wording of the subparagraph, the Council decided to make the granting of aid subject to two conditions: the investment must actually be carried out and the detailed arrangements laid down by the Member State must be complied with.

IV. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AMENDMENTS (5)

Amendment 17, concerning the sixth recital, was not accepted by the Council, which took the view that, as the amounts of aid were to be set by Member States, it was not appropriate to include a quantitative requirement there.

Amendment 18, concerning Article 1, was also not accepted. On the first part of the Amendment, involving an explicit reference to telematics and other communications equipment, the Council considered that, inasmuch as the Regulation covered transhipment of goods by waterway, such equipment was also included. The second part of Amendment 18, concerning the third subparagraph, was made redundant by the replacement of that subparagraph by a new wording (see point III above). Lastly, on the third part of the Amendment, the Council thought it better to keep to the date 31 July 1999 rather than opting for 31 December 1999, the end date for the aid scheme, in order to allow a while for implementation of the decisions to be taken at that time. The Council did not therefore accept that aspect of Amendment 18 either.

(1) OJ No C 318, 29. 11. 1995, p. 12.

(2) OJ No C 65, 4. 3. 1996, p. 32.

(3) OJ No C 39, 12. 2. 1996, p. 46.

(4) Not yet published in the Official Journal.

(5) The European Parliament delivered a single opinion on the three Commission proposals; the only amendments concerning this proposal are those numbered 17 and 18.