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 European Parliament and Council Directive on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the trans-European road network

2002/0309 (COD)

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 European Parliament and Council Directive on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the trans-European road network

1- BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (document COM(2002) 769 final - 2002/0309(COD)): // 30 December 2002

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee: // 18 June 2003

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: // 9 October 2003

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: // 26 February 2004

Date of adoption of the common position: // 26 February 2004

2- PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION'S PROPOSAL

In its White Paper on transport policy, [1] the Commission stresses the need to conceive of a European Directive on the harmonisation of minimum safety standards in order to guarantee a high level of safety for the users of tunnels, particularly those forming part of the trans-European transport network.

[1] Commission White Paper of 12 September 2001: "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide", COM(2001)370 final.

To that end the Commission has presented this proposal for a Directive, which is aimed at imposing organisational and technical requirements for tunnels more than 500 metres in length located on the trans-European road network.

3- COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

The common position includes the amendments proposed by the Commission in its amended proposal of 26 February 2004, which seeks to incorporate most of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament at first reading.

It differs from the amended proposal in the following major respects:

- The initial proposal provided for a schedule for the refurbishment of existing tunnels, requiring 10% of tunnels to be made compliant within 3 years, 50% within 6 years and 100% within 10 years. The common position does not restate the interim deadlines, but leaves them to the discretion of the Member States. Instead, a clause has been inserted in the new Article 15 "Reporting" stipulating that, 30 months after the Directive enters into force, Member States should forward a schedule for the refurbishment of existing tunnels to the Commission. In addition, every two years, they are to give the Commission a progress report on fulfilment of the schedule. This approach is acceptable to the Commission, which will monitor the situation to ensure that the proposed plans are realistic and properly staggered over the whole ten-year period.

- The common position proposes introducing a streamlined committee procedure under Article 14 to authorise Member States to grant, on the basis of a duly documented request, a derogation from the terms of the Directive for the implementation of a technical innovation providing an equivalent or higher protection level. The streamlined procedure, aimed at making it easier to examine any derogations, is acceptable insofar as it is applied only if no comments are submitted by either the Commission or a Member State.

- The common position introduces a new Article 15 on "Reporting", which incorporates the obligation for Member States to report regularly on the implementation of the Directive and its effectiveness in the event of any accidents occurring in the course of the year. The new Article is acceptable.

4- CONCLUSIONS

The Commission considers that the common position adopted unanimously by the Council on 26 February 2004 is faithful to the aims and spirit of the Commission's proposal. The Commission can therefore approve the common position.

The common position includes, either in letter or spirit, many of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament at first reading. There is consequently a high level of agreement between the Council, Parliament and the Commission on the key aspects of the proposal.

Accordingly, the Commission invites the European Parliament to approve the common position. The engineering work required to bring tunnels into compliance with the future Directive will take a long time and it is important for this work to begin as soon as possible.