28. 5. 84 Official Journal of the European Communities NoC 140/1 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive on fuel rationing of commercial 
transport between Member States 
(84/C 140/01) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the Euro­
pean Communities No C 195 of 22 July 1983, page 4. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 19 July 1983 the Council decided, in accordance with Articles 75, 103 and 198 of 
the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, to consult the Economic 
and Social Committee on the abovementioned proposal. 
Procedure: 
The Section for Transport and Communications was instructed to prepare the Com­
mittee's work on the matter and adopted its opinion on 15 February 1984 on the basis 
of the oral report made by the rapporteur, Mr Francis Law. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
At its 216th plenary session, meeting of 28 March 1984, the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted its opinion unanimously. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
1. The Economic and Social Committee approves 
the Commission's proposal subject to the following 
comments. 
2. In the past the Committee has dealt directly or 
indirectly with the same problems in its opinions on 
the 
— communication from the Commission to the 
Council on the Development of the Common 
Transport Policy (Chapter: Transport and 
Energy Policy), dated 10 September 1975 ('), 
— new lines of action by the European Com­
munity in the field of energy saving, dated 
31 January 1980 (2). 
(') OJ NoC 286, 15. 12. 1975, p. 2. 
(2) OJ NoC 113,7. 5. 1980, p. 1. 3. General comments 
3.1. The transport of goods by road is almost com­
pletely dependent on crude oil and petroleum prod­
ucts. Any difficulty in the supply of fuel for this 
sector would restrict its operations and hence ser­
iously disrupt economic activity. The Community 
must therefore be able to compensate for or at least 
reduce the damaging effects of such an eventuality. 
3.2. To maintain economic activity in the Com­
munity the Commission proposes adopting a Direc­
tive enabling the Member States to consult each 
other in the event of a serious oil crisis and to apply 
the principle of equal treatment for foreign and 
national carriers when fuel rationing is in force. In 
the Commission's view this is the best way of main-
No C 140/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 5. 84 
taining the intra-Community goods traffic which is 
essential to economic activity. 
3.3. If fuel rationing becomes necessary in one or 
more Member States each Member State must take 
steps, in accordance with a Community consultation 
and decision-making procedure, to provide enough 
fuel for intra-Community transport based on control 
of fuel distribution. 
3.4. In a serious crisis caused by a severe fuel shor­
tage in which one or more Member States, who must 
first make severe restrictions to their own traffic, no 
longer find it possible to guarantee a fuel supply to 
maintain intra-Community transport, it will be 
necessary to resort to an EEC consultation and deci­
sion-making procedure in order to coordinate a 
reduction in road traffic between Member States by 
laying down priorities or possibly by drawing up 
quotas. 
The Commission's main aim here is to ensure equal 
treatment between resident and non-resident car­
riers. 
3.5. The Committee realizes that it would go 
beyond the scope of this opinion to enter into a 
detailed discussion of general aspects of the com­
mon transport policy, such as the priority to be 
given in a crisis to forms of transport which use less 
energy. It assumes, however, that these aspects will 
not be overlooked when priorities and quotas are 
fixed. 
Supply priorities 
3.6. Some provision needs to be made for giving 
priority to supplies for the movement of passengers 
and goods. The priority should be related either to 
the importance or the urgency of the goods, in 
accordance with previous EEC consultation and 
agreement between Member States. The sending 
State should issue an authorization for the journey 
based on the criteria decided by the Community 
after consultation between the Government of the 
Member State and the National Road Transport 
Trade Associations. 3.7. An authorization by the sending Member 
State should also be provided for unaccompanied 
trailers carried for example on ferry boats or road/ 
rail so that they may be towed to destinations. 
3.8. It is self-evident that especially in a serious 
crisis it is necessary to make sure that fuel is not 
wasted by using it in vehicles which are only partly 
loaded. Member States in consultation with their 
Road Transport Trade Associations must strive for 
the maximum use of vehicle capacity by some form 
of consolidation of loads. The coordination offices 
(bureaux des frets, Laderaumverteilungsstellen) 
which already operate in some Member States for 
avoiding empty runs could be used for this purpose. 
Fuel consumption guide 
3.9. There should be a guideline to Member States 
on the approximate average fuel consumption to be 
expected from each category of vehicle so that fuel 
allotment in each Member State may be adequate to 
complete the journey but not excessive. 
3.10. Each Member State should use a standard 
application form for fuel to enable the authorities to 
evaluate the need and to record what is issued to 
keep control of the available fuel supplies and to 
ensure that fuel is not wasted. Whatever measures 
are taken must be kept simple and not cause undue 
delay in road movement. 
Fuel coupons 
3.11. In the third and most serious phase of a fuel 
crisis a coupon system would generally apply in 
accordance with plans drawn up by the individual 
Member States. The EEC consultation and deci­
sion-making procedure should aim to limit restric­
tion so far as it is possible to do so and enable trans­
port firms to carry out their operations in Member 
States other than their own so far as is possible. 
3.12. Coupons for fuel will normally be issued at 
national frontiers but arrangements should also be 
made for coupons to be issued at other offices in the 
28. 5. 84 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 140/3 
interior, especially for traffic whose customs formal­
ities are handled by inland customs offices or for 
traffic using a railway for part of the journey. If fuel 
coupons are issued at inland offices it would help to 
reduce any congestion at the frontier. 
3.13. Although the standard form used for fuel 
application and control should normally be issued 
at the start of the journey and authorized by the 
sending State there should also be a supply of forms 
at each centre where the authorities in charge of fuel 
supplies may need them to estimate the fuel require­
ment and monitor its use. 
3.14. Finally, the Member States should agree on 
the advance allocation of fuel, the period of validity 
of the coupons and the period for submitting appli­
cations. 
4. Specific comments on particular Articles of the 
Directive 
4.1. Article 1 
The Directive should include combined road/rail 
transport and roll on/roll off. 
4.2. Article 3 
This provision permitting border transport opera­
tions up to 50 km from the border to be barred from 
re-fuelling arrangements could be difficult to con-
Done at Brussels, 28 March 1984. trol as a journey to a destination 51 km from the 
frontier would be sufficient to be included in the 
scheme. However, a 25 km limit applies each side of 
the frontier for exemption from permits under the 
First Directive (23 July 1982) provided that the total 
distance does not exceed 100 km as the crow flies. 
4.3. Article 4 
ECMT (European Conference of Ministers of 
Transport) permits should be included and road/rail 
certificates. 
5. Fuel application form 
5.1. The restriction to two additional applications 
because of unforeseen changes in destination may 
be too restrictive. 
5.2. Authorized representatives of the transport 
companies should also be able to fill in the form 
and sign it. 
5.3. The space for the registration number of the 
vehicle should also include the nationality sign as is 
the case for the Diesel Fuel Certificate used at pres­
ent at the German frontier. 
5.4. The form does not provide enough space for 
the information it requires, e.g. address of company 
and home address of driver. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francis CEYRAC