EN Official Journal of the European Union C 324/47

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport (codified version)

COM(2006) 432 final — 2006/0146 (COD)

(2006/C 324/20)

On 27 September 2006, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 71 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

On 12 September 2006, the Committee Bureau instructed the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society to prepare the Committee's work on the subject.

Given the urgent nature of the work, the European Economic and Social Committee appointed Mr Simons as rapporteur-general at its 430th plenary session (meeting of 26 October 2006), and adopted the following opinion by 133 votes in favour, with three abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

1.1 The Committee agrees with the European Council presidency on the importance of codification, as this offers certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time and helps make Community law more transparent and accessible for the European public.

1.2 The purpose of the present proposal is to codify Council Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 of 21 December 1989, as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3356/91, on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport. The Committee feels that consideration should be given to how far this codification exercise should also include legislation relating to other transport modes, such as rail, intermodal transport, short sea shipping and air transport.

1.3 The Committee welcomes the proposed codified version, provided that the content of the acts being codified is preserved and that any changes do no more than bring those acts together, with only such formal amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself.

1.4 Given how important it is for the European public to have access to transparent Community legislation, the Committee would urge the Commission to consider whether, and to what extent, other legislation might also be codified.

1.5 Member States should coordinate the checks, verifications and inspections that are performed. Failing that, Member States should at least share the findings so as to allow transport to flow freely and to avoid fresh inspections or checks being carried out by each individual country. With RIS (River Information Services) in place, this should pose no problem at all for inland waterway transport.

2. Introduction

2.1 The sheer volume of Community law with which Europe has to deal and the frequent amendments to existing legislation mean that the information is scattered, making it difficult for the public to keep track.

2.2 The European Commission evinces great interest in making Community law simpler and clearer, and thus more accessible to the public.

2.3 For that reason, the Commission has instructed its staff that all legislative acts should be codified after no more than ten amendments.

2.4 The presidency conclusions of the December 1992 European Council in Edinburgh underscored the importance of codification as this offers certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time, and thus also helps boost transparency.

2.5 Since codification may not involve any substantive changes to the acts in question, the European Parliament, Council and Commission decided in the interinstitutional agreement of 20 December 1994 that an accelerated procedure may be used in this case.

2.6 The present proposal seeks to codify Council Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 of 21 December 1989 on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport. The new regulation brings together Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 and the various amendments to it.

2.7 The Commission proposal preserves the content of the amendments, and does no more than bring them together, with only such formal amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself.

3. General comments

3.1 The Committee notes that the present Commission proposal seeks to codify only Council Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport, but does not cover other transport modes such as rail, intermodal transport, short sea shipping and air transport, for which border controls continue to apply. The Committee feels that these other transport modes should be taken into consideration as well.

3.2 The Committee would stress that Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 and the codification proposal seek to eliminate systematic controls at the frontiers of Member States. As Article 3 of the proposed regulation makes clear, checks may still be made as part of the normal control procedures applied in a non-discriminatory fashion throughout the territory of a Member State.

3.3 The Committee welcomes the Commission's codification proposal. The more transparent European legislation is for the public the better. The Committee would therefore urge the Commission to consider whether, and to what extent, other legislation might also be codified.

3.4 Recital 4 of the proposal states that, under existing Community legislation, Member States are free to organise and perform checks, verifications and inspections where they so wish. They should, however, coordinate these activities, or, failing that, at least share the findings so as to allow transport to flow freely and to avoid fresh inspections or checks being carried out by each individual country. With RIS (River Information Services) in place, this should pose no problem for inland waterway transport.

4. Specific comments

None.