No C 105/20 Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 4. 79 
7. Since the GSP scheme is one of the Community 
instruments which enable the Community to assume its 
responsibilities towards the developing countries at the 
world level, the Community should do its utmost to 
make this instrument more effective and, in particular, to 
give the poor developing countries the best openings. 
8. Moreover, the Committee would like to have better 
statistics in future to enable it to make a more precise 
assessment of the effects of the GSP. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Fabrizia BADUEL GLORIOSO 
ANNEX 
to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee 
The following amendment, which was moved in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, was rejected 
during the debate: 
Add the following paragraph at the end of point 3: 
'In more general terms, the Committee would like to see a policy which is compatible with the 
Community's internal policies and the international arrangements it has made in the sectors in 
question; this applies not only to textiles but to all the other sectors, particularly agriculture.' 
Voting 
For: 23; against: 52; abstentions: 8. 
Opinion on the draft Council Decisions: 
— amending Decision 78/774/EEC concerning the activities of certain third countries in the 
field of cargo shipping, 
— on the implementation of Article 2 of Decision 78/774/EEC concerning the activities of 
certain third countries in the field of cargo shipping 
(Doc. COM(78) 515 final) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 259 of 1 November 1978, page 6. 
. A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 25 October 1978 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Articles 84 (2) and 198 of the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community. behaviour is particularly necessary with regard to 
prices (e.g. there should be no dumping), regularity 
of supply, terms of payment, access to markets, etc. 
— All the countries concerned should recognize 
fundamental human rights and respect minimum 
standards laid down for working conditions by the 
ILO. The Committee considers the Commission's 
new proposals in this area as a first step that should 
be followed up. 
Done at Brussels, 29 November 1978. 
26. 4. 79 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 105/21 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 163rd 
plenary session held in Brussels on 29 and 30 November 1978. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 84 (2) 
and 198 thereof, 
Having regard to the request made by the Council of the 
European Communities on 25 October 1978 for an 
opinion, 
Having regard to the opinions adopted by the Committee 
on 22 June and 23 November 1977 and 1 June 1978, 
Having regard to Council Decision 78/774/EEC of 
19 September 1978 on the activities of certain third 
countries in the field of cargo shipping (1), 
Having regard to the decision taken by its chairman on 
15 November 1978 instructing the Section for Transport 
and Communications to draw up an opinion on the 
matter (Articles 46 and 47 of the Rules of Procedure), 
Having regard to the opinion issued by the Section for 
Transport and Communications at its 122nd meeting 
held on 15 November 1978, 
Having regard to the oral report submitted by the 
rapporteur, Mr Hennig (Article 29 of the Rules of 
Procedure), 
Having regard to the discussions at its 163rd plenary 
session held on 29 and 30 November 1978 (meeting of 
29 November), 
Whereas the abovementioned Decision of 19 September 
1978 provides for the collection of information on the 
merchant fleets of third countries whose practices are 
detrimental to the shipping interests of the Member 
States; 
Whereas information should in future also be collected 
on non-detrimental shipping practices of third countries 
in order to provide a fuller picture of the market 
situation; 
Whereas the abovementioned Decision should therefore 
be amended and/or supplemented, 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
unanimously: 
The Committee very much deplores the fact that the 
request for it to deliver an opinion by 23 November 1978 
H OJ No L 258, 21. 9. 1978, p. 35. was not forwarded earlier in order to enable the opinion 
to be ready in good time for the meeting of the Council of 
Ministers on 23 and 24 November 1978. 
The Committee would like to make the following 
comments on the two draft Decisions. 
1. Draft Council Decision amending Decision 
78/774/EEC concerning the activities of certain third 
countries in the field of cargo shipping 
The Committee holds the view that the use of the term 
'third countries' in the current version of Article 2 may 
result in only part of the liner traffic on a given route 
being covered, thus making it impossible to secure an 
overall picture of the actual market situation. 
The Committee therefore concurs with the Commission's 
proposal that the words 'or to which areas of operation' 
be added to Article 2 (1). 
2. Draft Council Decision on the implementation of 
Article 2 of Decision 78/774/EEC concerning the 
activities of certain third countries in the field of cargo 
shipping 
The purpose of the draft Decision is to enable the 
Commission to be provided with information by the 
Member States on all freight liner services in four areas 
of operation which give rise to problems. Information is 
to be provided on: 
(a) the services provided; 
(b) the tonnage shipped; 
(c) cargo values and freight rates. 
The information to be collected between 1 January 1979 
and 31 December 1980 is to provide the basis for 
determining whether the possible countermeasures 
provided for under Decision 78/774/EEC should be 
used. 
In the Committee's view the following points still need to 
be considered: 
(a) Annex 1, point 2 (a) 
Experience in the field of maritime traffic statistics, 
which also, as a rule, list the tonnage carried 
according to flags, has demonstrated that the 
information content of such figures is often limited 
by a number of factors, such as: 
No C 105/22 Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 4. 79 
— charter cargoes carried under foreign flags, 
— the practice of re-registering ships, e.g. under 
open registry flags. 
It would therefore be preferable to list the cargo 
carried under the heading 'liner services', or at least 
to introduce this as an additional heading. 
(b) Annex 1, point 2 (d) 
Liner cargo has always been very varied. Too minute 
a specification of the types of goods carried will lead 
to an incalculable increase in administrative costs. 
The Committee would therefore prefer point 2 (d) to 
be deleted. An acceptable alternative would be to 
require goods to be broken down into a few large 
categories, such as: 
— normal general cargo, 
— containers, 
— vehicles. 
(c) Annex 1, point 3 
In the Committee's view the Commission's proposal 
would give rise to considerable difficulties: — Freight rates: national authorities do not have 
access to the actual freight rates agreed between 
the parties; the collection of data on freight rates 
would also be tantamount to market 
surveillance, which is not the intention. 
— Cargo values: the collection of data relating to 
the value of import and export cargoes would 
pose problems of organization and bring about 
considerable procedural difficulties. 
The Committee is therefore opposed to the collection 
of detailed data. It would be enough simply to 
collect more readily obtainable information, i.e. 
information which can be gleaned from shipping 
documents about freight values (e.g. the net freight 
earnings per vessel per voyage). 
(d) Annex II (Areas of operation) 
With a view to making the procedure a simple and 
uncontroversial as possible there should first of all be 
a trial period with information being gathered with 
regard to just two main EC export trade routes, 
namely: 
— East Africa, 
— Central America (including Mexico and the West 
Indies). 
Done at Brussels, 29 November 1978. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Fabrizia BADUEL GLORIOSO 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision adopting a second research and development 
programme of the European Economic Community in the sector of medical and public health 
research consisting of five multiannual concerted projects 
(Doc. COM(78) 377 final + Add. 1) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 213 of 7 September 1978, page 3. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 30 August 1978 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community.