26. 4. 79 Official Journal of the European Communities NoC 105/11 
5. The Committee is of the view that the Commission 
will have to draw up a report on the impact ot the new 
scheme - and particularly its impact on the overall 
vegetable oil market of the Community which is part of 
the wider common policy on fats and oils. This report 
should be presented in sufficient time to enable the 
Council to decide not later than 31 December 1981, and 
Done at Brussels, 19 October 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 Article 75 
thereof, 
Having regard to the request made by the Council of 
the European Communities on 2 August 1978 for an 
opinion (1), 
Having regard to Council Directive 75/130/EEC of 
17 February 1975 (2), and in particular the second 
paragraph of Article 7 thereof, 
Having regard to the opinion adopted by the Committee 
on 26 October 1972 (3), 
(') OJ No C 185, 3. 8. 1978, p. 3. 
(2) OJ No L 48, 22. 2. 1975, p. 31. 
(3) OJ No C 131, 13. 12. 1972, p. 21. by a qualified majority, whether to continue or amend 
the system of aid for the degermination of maize. 
The Economic and Social Committee hopes that the 
report will be submitted to it in good time so that it can 
draw up an opinion. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Fabrizia BADUEL GLORIOSO 
Having regard to the decision taken by its chairman on 
22 August 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 Renaud (Article 29 of the Rules of 
Procedure), 
Having regard to the discussions at its 163 rd plenary 
session held on 29 and 30 November 1978 (meeting of 
29 November), 
Whereas Article 7 of the abovementioned Directive of 
17 February 1975 stipulates that the Directive is only to Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 75/130/EEC on the 
establishment of common rules for certain types of combined road/rail carriage of goods 
between Member States 
(Doc. COM(78) final) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 185 of 3 August 1978, page 3. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 2 August 1978 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Article 75 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 163 rd 
plenary session held in Brussels on 29 and 30 November 1978. 
No C 105/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 4. 79 
be valid until 31 December 1978 and that the Council is 
to decide before that date on the system to be applied 
thereafter; 
Whereas, in a report on the implementation of this 
Directive submitted to the Council on 19 December 
1977, the Commission stated its intention of putting the 
system on a permanent basis after making a few changes 
in the light of the lessons to be drawn from the trial 
period; 
Whereas the Commission has put forward three main 
proposals in its present document: 
— maintenance of the present system on a permanent 
basis, 
— extension of the lifting of all quotas and abolition of 
all authorizations to cover both international and 
national traffic, irrespective of the road transport 
firm responsible for carriage in the initial and final 
stage, 
— extension of the rules of the Directive to cover 
combined road/rail container transport, 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
unanimously: 
1. General comments 
1.1. The Committee approves the Commission 
proposal inasmuch as it puts the present system on a 
permanent footing. 
1.2. The Committee nevertheless regrets that it cannot 
approve the proposal to extend the liberalization from 
all quotas and authorizations to both international and 
national traffic, irrespective of the road transport firm 
responsible for carriage in the initial and final stage. If 
this proposal were to go through, it would mean that 
such traffic would no longer be subject to national rules 
governing access to the market. 
It would also be going against the principle that cabotage 
should be banned. All Community regulations on 
Community quotas in fact clearly stipulate that whilst 
recipients of Community authorizations are entitled to 
transport goods by road between Member States, 
cabotage is not allowed. 
1.3. The Committee agrees with the Commission's 
proposal to extend the rules of the Directive to cover 
combined road/rail container carriage. In the view 
of the Committee the extension is justified because an increasing number of containers transported 
internationally by road would be able to use this 
technique. Furthermore, the Committee considers that 
the present distinction between swop bodies (to which 
the 1975 Directive applies) and containers is an artificial 
one: nor does it take into account the fact that these two 
types of container in practice fulfil the same economic 
purpose. All the underlying arguments behind the 
Directive thus argue in favour of including container 
traffic in a liberalized combined road/rail transport 
system, thus making this technique more attractive for 
the markets concerned. 
2. Specific comments 
The revamping of the 1975 Directive is accompanied by 
a number of stylistic changes, some of which affect 
substantive elements of the Directive. These major 
changes concern primarily Article 1 (definitions) and 
Article 2 (administration of combined transport). 
The new proposal adds 'containers' to the tractor units, 
lorries, trailers, semitrailers and swop bodies already 
covered by the 1975 Directive. 
This addition means that containers are now treated in 
the same way as the other road vehicles being liberalized. 
The addition is logical in that 'swop bodies' were already 
included in the definitions of the 1975 Directive and it is 
not possible to distinguish in practice between containers 
and swop bodies. 
However, whilst the swop body is a part of the road 
vehicle, the same cannot by any means be said of 
containers which were originally intended for use in 
shipping. The conditions under which container traffic 
operates are in fact different from the rules governing 
road transport. There is thus a risk that, by putting 
containers on the same footing as swop bodies, firms 
which exercise other activities and do not have to comply 
with the rules governing the organization of the 
transport market, may gain access to the market in road 
haulage for hire or reward. 
2.2. Title of the Directive 
To obviate this risk it should be made clear that the 
proposal covers combined road-rail transport operations 
carried out by road haulage firms. The title of the 
Directive should therefore be amended to read as 
follows: ' ... on the establishment of common rules for 
certain types of combined road/rail carriage of goods 
effected by road haulage firms between Member States'. 
26. 4. 79 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 105/13 
It would also be worthwhile to mention that the 
containers covered by the Directive would be big 
containers of 20, 30 or 40 feet conforming with ISO 
standards. 
2.3. Article 1 This is certainly 'not the intention of the Commission 
which simply wants to secure the liberalization of 
combined road/rail transport. The word 'authorization' 
should therefore be removed from Article 2, so that the 
rules governing the organization of road transport can 
continue to be applied to firms using the combined 
road/rail technique. 
For the reasons expounded above, Article 1 should be 
amended to read as follows: 
'1. For the purposes of this Directive "road/rail 
carriage" shall mean road transport of goods 
between Member States effected by road 
haulage firms in which the lorry. . .' (rest 
unchanged). 
2.4. Article 2 
The 1975 Directive provided for the lifting of all quota 
systems and systems of authorization in the types of 
combined road/rail carriage referred to in Article 1. 
The new Article 2, however, talks of all international and 
national quota systems and systems of authorization. 
The 1975 Directive was clearly concerned with 
international transport authorizations subject to bilateral 
or Community quotas. By adding the word 'national' to 
the new Article 2, the proposal introduces a certain 
amount of confusion into the whole of the transport 
market. This is because reference is now being made not 
only to bilateral quotas but also to all rules on access to 
the market in force in the Member States. 2.5. Article 5 
In order to prevent the lifting of all quotas in combined 
transport from leading to disruption of the 
transport-for-hire-or-reward market (to which the 
Directive mainly relates), the old Article 6 (becoming 
Article 5), should be retained intact as follows: 
'This Directive shall not affect the conditions in force 
in each Member State governing admission to the 
occupation of road transport operator and access to 
the transport market.' 
2.6. Negotiations between the EEC and non-member 
countries 
The Committee would hope that the system established 
by the modified Directive could be applied to certain 
types of international combined road/rail carriage of 
goods between the EEC and non-member countries. The 
Committee would like to see appropriate negotiations 
opened to this end. 
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 concerning the acceptance by the Community 
of resolution No 119 (revised) of the Economic Commission for Europe on the 
standardization of the forms used for authorizations for international goods transport by road 
(Doc. COM(78) 431 final) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 237 of 7 October 1978, page 3. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 2 October 1978 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Article 75 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community.