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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(77)508
Vol.1977/0161

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(77)508 final
Brussels,21October1977
COMMUNICATION FROMTHECOMMISSION TOTHECOUNCIL
concerningthenegotiation ofanAgreementbetween
theEuropeanEconomicCommunity andthirdcountries
ontherulesapplicable totheinternational carriage
ofpassengers bycoachandbus,
including
Proposalfora
COUNCILDECISION
., -\
specifying andsupplementing thefeaturesofthe
t
AgreementthattheCommission wasauthorizedtonego
tiatebytheCouncilDecisionof15October1975
•/
COM(77)508final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TOTHE COUNCIL
concerning thenegotiation ofanAgreement between theEuropean
Economic Community and third countries ontherules applicable to
theinternational carriage ofpassengers bycoach and bus ,in­
cluding :
-aproposal foraCouncil Decision specifying andsupplementing the
features oftheAgreement that the Commission was authorised to
negotiate bytheCouncil Decision of 15October 19T5•
I. BACKGROUND
1. On13March 1976 the Commission opened negotiations with
the relevant third countries inaccordance with the Council
Decision of 15October 1975 authorizing theCommission tonegotiate
anAgreement between theEuropean Economic Community and third
countries onthe rules applicable tothe international carriage
ofpassengers bycoach and bus ,asamended bythe Council
2Decision of15March 1976 ,and theCouncil Decision of15October
1975 laying down thenegotiating directives for these nego­
tiations ^.These negotiations were continued atasecond meeting
held on6and 7December 1975 with thehead ofthe Swiss
Delegation intheChair ,and atathird meeting on5&nd6July
1977 with thehead ofthedelegation oftheEuropean Economic
Community inthe Chair .
Doc .R/2386/75 (TRANS 86)
2Doc.R/446/1/76 (TRANS 86-rev. 1)
Doc .R/2387/75 (TRANS 87).

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The negotiations culminated inapreliminary draft Agreement ,
which will bediscussed further with the third countries atthe
beginning of1978 .
2. Atthese meetings ,the third countries put forward a
number ofproposals concerning theliberalization ofoccasional
services and theadministration oftheAgreement .
II.PROBLEMS OFSUBSTANCE
3#(a)Scope oftheAgreement
Article 1oftheCouncil Decision of 15October 1975t as
amended on 15March 1976 ,authorizing theCommission tostart
these negotiations ,states :
"The Commission ishereby authorized tonegotiate an
Agreement between theEuropean Economic Community and
Austria ,Finland ,Greece ,Norway ,Portugal ,Spain ,
Sweden ,Switzerland ,Turkey andYugoslavia for the
establishment ofuniform rules applicable tooccasional
services inthe context ofthe international carriage
ofpassengers bycoach orbus toorfrom these third
countries orbetween twoMember States and passing in
transit through one ofthese third countries ."
Article 1ofthepreliminary draft Agreement laying down
the scope ofits provisions stipulates that theAgreement tobe
concluded shall apply not only totheabovementioned transport
links but totransport services between all theContracting
Parties .

-3-
The Commission considers that these transport links should be
included intheAgreement toobviate theneed for twodistinct legal
instruments ,which would belikely tocause difficulties ,including
differences between the twoAgreements .If,moreover ,for example ,
transport services between Sweden ,Norway orFinland andthird
countries further south ,inboth directions ,are tobetaken into
consideration ,itwill befound that thetransit routes will cross
theterritory ofone ormore Member States ;this means that the
Community must regulate this type oftransport intheAgreement .In
these circumstances itshould bestipulated that theproposed Agree­
ment isalso toapply totransport services between third countries .
(b)Liberalization measures concerning theentry ofunladen
replacement vehicles
Inaccordance with the statement recorded atits request in
theminutes oftheCouncil meeting of 15October 1975 ,theCommission ,
incollaboration with theMember States ,has continued its search for
asolution tothe problem ofthe entry ofunladen replacement vehicles .
Prance andItaly oppose theliberalization ofthis type oftransport .
They see nopoint insuch measures ,onthegrounds that the national
authorities can actpromptly and issue authorizations permitting the
entry ofunladen vehicles without delay .
Germany opposes liberalization ofthis type ofoperation .It
might however agree toaformula being found which would apply only
totransport links between Member States .
Inview ofthis state ofaffairs and the fact that the
opinions ofthethird countries onthis subject are also divided ,the
Commission didnot recommend that theproposed Agreement include the
entry ofunladen replacement vehicles .

(c)Transport services toandfrom countries which arenotparty
tothe Agreement
Spain ,Yugoslavia ,Sweden andSwitzerland consider that the
Agreement should also apply totransport services toand from countries
which are not party totheAgreement insofar asthey concern the ter­
ritory oftheContracting Parties .
Astothepoint ofsubstance ,theCommission considers that
theproposed Agreement should herestricted atpresent totransport
services where the points ofdeparture and destination are tobe
found onthe territory ofone ormore Contracting Parties .This would
not preclude reconsideration ofthe .question atalater date ,inthe
light ofpractical experience oftheapplication oftheAgreement ,
and ofamore detailed review ofthematter from various aspects ,
taking into account factors such asthepossible role ofother inter­
national organizations like theECE .
For these reasons ,theCommission does not propose anamend­
ment ofthenegotiating directives onthis subject .
(d)Definition ofoccasional services
The Greek Delegation urges that thedefinition ofoccasional
services beamended insuch away astopermit thetaking upofup
tofive other passengers tooccupy seats free from the start ofthe
journey .
One ofthe fundamental differences between occasional services
andregular services isthat occasional services cannot take upor
setdown passengers along theroute .Toadmit bydefinition thegeneral
possibility ofexceptions would make itvery difficult todistinguish
between the two forms oftransport ,would allow ofabuses andwould
beliable tojeopardize the smooth operation ofregular services .
For these reasons ,theCommission considers that theproposal
should not beaccepted .

-5-
(e)Entry ofunladen vehicles into theterritory ofanother
Contracting Party totake uppassengers
Portugal ,Spain ,Yugoslavia and .Turkey oppose the liberali­
zation measures which would allow anunladen vehicle toenter the
territory ofanother Contracting Party ,subject toclearly specified
conditions ,inorder totake uppassengers .
These third countries consider that they would beplaced at
aparticular disadvantage bytheprovision liberalizing theentry of
unladen vehicles into another Contracting Party totake uppassengers
previously setdown intheContracting Party inquestion bythesame
carrier ,whose vehicle had left thecountry unladen .They are ofthe
opinion that this liberalization measure would create animbalance ,
particularly asregards thecarriage oftheir emigrant workers employed
inaMember State oftheEEC .Tocorrect this imbalance ,Yugoslavia
has proposed aspecific clause stipulating that thepassengers "shall
constitute agroup ofworkers employed abroad temporarily and carried
totheir country oforigin byacoach registered inthat country ".The
Swedish ,Swiss and Greek Delegations welcomed this proposal .
The provision advocated bythe third countries isnot taken
upinthis proposal toamend thenegotiating directives ,because the
Community Member States donot suggest it,onthe grounds that such
achange would rule out anypossibility ofeffective checks andwould
jeopardize thesmooth operation ofregular and special regular
services .The Commission shares the views ofthe Member States on
this point .

-6-
III .INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS '*
4, Following amove bytheSwiss Delegation ,all the third
countries confirmed that they wished theSecretariat ofthe
ECMT toassume some role inadministering theproposed Agree­
ment .
The Commission considers that this proposal should "be
examined inthe light ofthe following considerations s
(a)Thethird countries' interest inpreserving some role for
the ECMT
The fact that agreements are more and more often
negotiated and concluded between theCommunity and third
countries leads toaweakening ofthe role ofsuch inter­
national organisations astheECMT .
Nevertheless the third countries have not wished to
see thedisappearance ofaninstitution forming aEuropean
forum inwhich they canexchange information and views and
collaborate toacertain extent ontransport policy measures .
(b)TheCommunity 'sinterest inpreserving some role forthe
ECMT
Because ofits very nature ,transport must beconceived
asanactivity extending beyond political frontiers {any com­
mon transport policy which claims toberealistic must there­
fore take into account the interpenetration oftraffic with
the third countries and theneed toorganize passenger and
goods traffic onawider geographical plane .Tothis end ,co­
operation with theECMT isofproven value .

-7-
TheCommunity thus has aninterest mimproving cooperation
with theECMT .This can bedone without conflicting with the obli­
gations oftheTreaty orofsecondary legislation .
(c)What role could theECMT fulfil ?
The ECMT has norole inthis kind ofnegotiation .This isexplained
bythefact that these negotiations with third countries arecarried
outexclusively bytheCommission inthename oftheEEC ,under
Article 228 ofthe Treaty .
Onthe other hand discussions intheECMT take place between the
member countries oftheECMT ,including Member States ofthe EEC ,
totheexclusion oftheCommunity itself because itisnot amember
ofthe ECMT .. -
However ,itwould benice toavoid any possible incon­
veniences ofalegal nature which might arise if,inthe future ,
the ECMT were charged with anadministrative role inthe man<»b oment -
oftheagreement ;ifitwere simply toadministrative management
ofthis agreement such arole would not seem tobeinconflict with
theprovisions oftheTreaty and especially ofitsArticle 228 .
Itisimportant toarrive atstandard transport rules ap­
plying toall theWest European countries andbased onCommunity
transport regulations .Inorder todothis andbearing inmind the
position ofboth theMember States and the third countries ,this
objective ofEurope-wide application should bepursued incooperation
with theECMT ,insofar asiscompatible with theTreaty .
TheCommission thus considers that themost appropriate
solution could befor theCommunity tojoin theECMT quaCommunity ,
for this would enable ittoconclude agreements within theECMT
and topursue acommon transport policy within that organisation .
However ,this solution would involve amending thepresent ECMT
Statute ,which allows only States tobecome members .

-8-
Inany case ,inview ofthepresent Statute oftheECMT ,this
solution cannot "beused for theAgreement inquestion .Asthe outcome
oftheapproaches tobemade totheECMT onthis subject cannot be
awaited ,another solution must befound which will nothowever pre­
judge thefuture system .Some administrative duties could thus be
entrusted totheECMT Secretariat intheAgreement .
5# Bearing these considerations inmind ,theproposals made by
the third countries are listed below with theCommission 'sopinion
oneach one .
(a)Control document
Ithas been proposed that the control document should bedrawn
upandmade available totheContracting Parties bytheECMT Secretariat .
This provision appears unnecessary :itwould mean anadmi­
nistrative perfectionism which would besuperfluous inview ofthe
fact that themodel control document constituting anintegral part oT
theAgreement isknown toall theContracting Parties and Community
practice has shown that itsproduction bytheMember States would not
give rise toany difficulty .
Accordingly ,theCommission does not consider that this pro­
posal should befollowed upand itdoes notpropose amending the ne­
gotiating directives .
(b)Implementing measures
Ithasbeen suggested that each Contracting Party should in­
form theECMT Secretariat ofthemeasures ithas taken toimplement
theAgreement and that theSecretariat should then inform the other
Contracting Parties .
Ithasalso been suggested that aclause beintroduced stating
that theContracting Parties shall inform each other ofviolations
committed ontheir territory bycarriers based inother Contracting
Parties and ,where applicable ,thepenalties imposed .

-9-
The Commission considers that these provisions are acceptable ,
inview ofthe considerations set out inpoint 4.
Itistherefore proposed that thenegotiating directives be
amended accordingly .
(c)Steps to "betaken intheevent ofproblems arising from the
operation ofthe Agreement
Itisproposed that ,ifaContracting Party requests ameeting
todiscuss problems arising from theoperation oftheAgreement ,the
ECMT Secretariat should convene themeeting and that the Chair should
betaken inturn bytheEEC and athird country .
The idea isacceptable .However ,aslightly different method
should beadopted toavoid tosimplify procedures :
-the Contracting Perty which wants themeeting soinforms the
ECMT Secretariat ;
-the ECMT Secretariat informs theother Contracting Parties ,which
ifthey agree that ameeting should beheld ,soinform the Chair­
man ;
-iffive Contracting Parties ,including theCommunity ,express
agreement ,the Chairman convenes themeeting with the technical
assistance oftheECMT Secretariat ;hefixes thetime andplace
ofthemeeting 5
-the EEC takes the Chair for thefirst meeting called .
The Commission proposes that thenegotiating directives be
supplemented accordingly .
Ithas also been proposed that theECMT Secretariat should
report annually totheContracting Parties ontheimplementation of
theAgreement .

-10-
The Commission sees nopoint inareport ofthis type .Fol­
lowing theexperience gained atCommunity level with theannual report
provided for "byArticle 15ofRegulation (EEC )No517/72onregular
and special regular services ,theCommission considers that thevalue
oftheconclusions which may bedrawn from adocument ofthis type
isnot such astomerit theadministrative work needed todraft it,
which would fall onboth national and international authorities .
The Commission does not ,therefore ,propose that the
negotiating directives besupplemented inthis matter .
(d)Deposit oftheinstruments ofapproval andratification
Ithas been proposed that theContracting Parties deposit the
instruments ofapproval orratification with theECMT Secretariat ,
which would inform the other Contracting Parties ofeach deposit .
TheCommission isoftheopinion that theprovision isaccep­
table ,inview ofthe general considerations set out inpoint 4.
The Commission therefore proposes that thenegotiating
directives besupplemented accordingly .
(®)Termination oftheAgreement
The third countries have also suggested that each Contracting
Party may ,for its part ,terminate theAgreement bynotifying the
ECMT Secretariat atleast oneyear before the end ofthe period of
five years then current ;theSecretariat would inform theother
Contracting Parties .
The Commission isoftheopinion that the
notice oftermination ofthe Agreement should take place between the
Contracting Parties concerned .However ,theCommission considers
that the said Contracting Parties should inform theECMT Secretariat
oftheir decision toterminate theAgreement .
Consequently theCommission proposes tosupplement the
negotiation directives inthis manner .

-11-
*
(f)Accession totheAgreement
The third countries propose that any Government ofanew member
country oftheECMT may accede tothe Agreement bymeans ofwritten
notification totheECMT Secretariat ,which would inform the other
Contracting Parties .
The Commission does not think itwould hejudicious tomake
theagreement automatically open toaccession byany other State .
Furthermore ,inview ofthefact that all theWest European States
areparty totheAgreement ,thequestion arises only with respect
tothe East European countries .Inline with current practice ,the
suitable forum formultilateral relations with theEast European
countries would bethe UNatGeneva ,not the ECMT .
For these reasons ,the Commission does not propose tosup­
plement thenegotiating directives along the lines advocated bythe
third countries .
(g)Deposit oftheAgreement
Ithas been proposed that the original Agreement bedeposited
inthe archives ofthe ECMT Secretariat ,which would then send acer­
tified copy toeach oftheContracting Parties .
The Commission isoftheopinion that this suggestion isac­
ceptable ,inview ofthegeneral considerations set out inpoint 4.
The Commission therefore proposes that thenegotiating
directives besupplemented accordingly .
IV.CONCLUSIONS
Inaccordance with these considerations ,theCommission sub­
mits tothe Council s
-aproposal for aCouncil Decision specifying andsupplementing the
features oftheAgreement that theCommission was authorised to
negotiate bythe Council Decision of15October 1975 .
χ
X X

Proposalfora
COUNCILDECISION
specifyingandsupplementing thefeaturesof
theAgreementthattheCommissionhasbeen
authorizedtonegotiatebytheCouncilDecision
of15October1975
THECOUNCILOFTHEEUROPEANCOMMUNITIES,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishing theEuropeanEconomic
Community,
HavingregardtotheproposalfromtheCommission,
WhereastheCouncil,byitsDecisionof15October1975,authorized
theCommissiontonegotiateanAgreementbetweentheEuropeanEconomic
Communityandcertainthirdcountriesconcerningtheregimetobe
appliedtotheinternational carriageofpassengers bycoachandbus
and,forthispurpose,establishednegotiatingdirectives;
WhereasprovisionshouldbemadetospecifythescopeofthisAgreement
andinparticulartounderlinethefactthatitconcernstransport
betweenContractingParties,includingthatcarriedoutintransiton
theterritoryofoneoftheContractingParties;whereas,moreover,
thenegotiatingdirectivesestablished by.theCouncilon15October1975
shouldbesupplemented,inparticular byaprovisionforamutualinfor­
mationprocedureconcerningoffencescommittedontheterritoryofone
ContractingPartybycarriersfromanother,andthepenaltiesimposed;
whereas,inaddition,certainadministrative tasksprovidedforinthe
AgreementshouldbeentrustedtotheSecretariat oftheECMT;
HASDECIDEDASFOLLOWS:

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SoleArtieie
ThefeaturesoftheAgreementthattheCommissionhasbeenauthorized
tonegotiatearespecifiedandsupplemented inaccordancewiththeAnnex
hereto.
DoneatBrussels,
FortheCouncil
ThePresident

ANNEX
The Commission ishereby authorized tonegotiate anAgreement
-between theEuropean Economic Community andAustria ,Finland ,,
Greece ,Norway ,Portugal ,Spain ,Sweden ,Switzerland ,Turkey
andYugoslavia ,
-applicable tooccasional international road passenger services
carried outbetween theterritory oftwoContracting Parties
orondeparture from anddestination totheterritory ofthe
same Contracting Party and ,during such atransport service ,,
whether intransit through theterritory ofanother Contracting
Party orintransit through theterritory ofanon-Contracting
Party .
The words "territory ofaContracting Party "shall apply ,where
•theEuropean Economic Community isconcerned ,tothose territo­
ries where theTreaty establishing that Community isapplicable
under the conditions stipulated bythe Treaty .
General and final provisions ofthe negotiating directives
7.TheContracting Parties shall notify each other ofinfringe­
ments oftheAgreement committeed ontheir territory bycarriers
established inanother Contracting Party andofanypenalties imposed .
8.The following administrative duties connected with the
administration oftheAgreement shall beentrusted tothe
Secretariat ofthe ECMT s
-compilation oftheimplementing measures taken byeach
Contracting Party inorder toimplement theAgreement andnotifi­
cation thereof toalltheother parties ,
provision oftechnical assistance totheChair forpurposes of
convening meetings oftheContracting Parties ,

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custody oftheinstruments ofapproval andratification
deposited bytheContracting Parties andnotification of
such tothe other parties ,
collection ofterminations oftheAgreement bythe
Contracting Parties ,
custody oftheAgreement anddispatch ofcertified copies to
each .Contracting Party .