20. 12. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 330/7 
road transport may be banned. The Committee is there­
fore of the opinion that these driving bans are of little 
practical significance. 
5.2. The Committee recognizes, however, that unco­
ordinated national bans on driving on certain days are 
detrimental to the optimum organization of inter­
national goods transport, and it would welcome Com­
munity action to avoid these adverse effects as far as 
possible. 
5.3. The Committee thinks, with regard to combined 
transport, that 
— given the reasons for the bans, there is no difference 
1. At is has already declared on several occasions, 
the Committee wholeheartedly supports measures to 
improve maritime safety and to prevent marine and 
coastal pollution. It therefore approves the present pro­
posal for extending the deadline for the completion of 
the COST 301 research programme and providing it 
with extra money in furtherance of the aforementioned 
objective. The Committee would also recall that in its between the road haulage legs of combined trans­
port operations and other road haulage journeys, 
— the costs of combined transport operators could be 
adversely affected and there might also be unfore­
seen social consequences, 
— the exceptions made for combined transport could 
lead to an increase in the number of days on which 
driving is banned; this could have unforeseen 
adverse effects on those forms of road haulage 
which are not suitable for combined transport work. 
5.4. The Committee therefore rejects this Com­
mission proposal. 
opinion of 25 November 1981 (2) it came out unani­
mously in favour of the implementation of the COST 
301 programme. 
2. At the same time, however, the Committee would 
reiterate the reservations expressed by it in 1981, when 
it considered that the work carried out under the Done at Brussels, 30 October 1985. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 82/887/EEC adopting a 
concerted action project for the European Economic Community in the field of shore-based 
marine navigation aid systems^) 
(85/C 330/03) 
On 24 July 1985 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Transport and Communications, which was responsible for preparing the 
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 9 October 1985, in the light of the 
oral report by Mr Bonety. 
At its 230th plenary session (meeting of 30 October 1985) the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following opinion unanimously: 
(') OJ No C 182, 20. 7. 8.5, p. 7. (2) OJ No C 348, 31. 12. 1981, p. 24. 
No C 330/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 20. 12. 85 
COST 301 programme would probably overlap with 
the activities of the International Maritime Organiza­
tion (IMO), which comes under the auspices of the UN 
and has its own vessel traffic services (VTS) system. 
3. Finally, the Committee wonders to what extent 
the work carried out so far on the COST 301 pro­
gramme has been satisfactory. It would underline the absence in the Commission document of a progress 
report on the programme and would ask the Com­
mission to draw up this report as soon as possible, 
especially as according to oral information received 
from the Commission several of the suggestions put 
forward by the Committee in its aforementioned opin­
ion have been taken into consideration in the COST 
programme. 
Done at Brussels, 30 October 1985. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on new Community energy objectives 
(85/C 330/04) 
On 12 June 1985 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on new 
Community energy objectives. 
The Section for Energy and Nuclear questions, which was responsible for preparing the 
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 4 October 1985 in the light of the 
report by Mr Margot. 
At its 230th plenary session (meeting of 30 October 1985) the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following opinion unanimously: 
1. Introduction 
In drawing up its opinion on the draft Council resol­
ution concerning energy objectives for 1995 and the 
Commission's explanatory comments thereon, the 
Committee is aware that this opinion is the latest in a 
series, the Committee having issued opinions on earlier 
10-year forecasts in 1978 and 1979. 
As indicated in the conclusions, the Committee endorses 
the new energy objectives for 1995 and the draft Council 
resolution thereon, but has a number of general and 
specific comments to make. 
2. General comments on the proposed new Com­
munity energy policy objectives for 1995 
2.1. The Committee would express its appreciation 
of the convenient layout and clear wording of the 
Commission document. 2.2. As regards the international energy situation, it 
is pointed out that while the economic recession was 
initially the principal factor in the decline in the demand 
for energy, structural changes have since taken place in 
the pattern of energy use. World energy consumption 
will, however, continue to rise as a result of the growing 
requirements of the developing countries and the newly 
industrializing countries. For the rest of the century the 
world will remain dependent on oil to a large degree. 
2.2.1. As regards the energy situation in the Com­
munity, total energy consumption fell by over 6 % 
between 1973 and 1983, although GDP went up by 
more than 18%. The share of oil in total energy con­
sumption was reduced from 62 to 48%, while oil 
imports dropped from 62 to 32% of total energy needs. 
Consumption of natural gas rose sharply and there was 
a more than four-fold increase in the production of 
nuclear electricity. The overall consumption of solid 
fuels did not rise, but their use in the electricity sector 
increased. The quantitative objective for electricity gen­
eration—at least 70 to 75 % solid fuels plus nuclear by