No C 348/38 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 3164/76 
on the Community quota for the carriage of goods by road between Member States 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the 
European Communities No C 269 of 21 October 1981 page 4. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 14 October 1981 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 
192nd plenary session held in Brussels on 25 and 26 November 1981. 
The full text of the opionion 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 14 October 1981 for 
an opinion, 
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 
3164/76 of 16 December 1976 on the Community 
quota for the carriage of goods by road between 
Member States(1), as last amended by Council 
Regulation (EEC) No 305/81 of 20 January 
1981(2), 
Having regard to the relevant ESC opinions of 27 
November 1975(3), and 20 November 1980(4), 
Having regard to the Committee chairman's decision 
of 23 October 1981, instructing the Section for 
Transport and Communications to prepare the 
opinion on this matter (Article 22 of the Rules of 
Procedure), 
Having regard to the opinion adopted by the Section 
at its 141st meeting on 11 November 1981, 
(i) OJ No L 357, 29. 12. 1976, p. 1. 
(2).OJ No L34, 6. 2. 1981, p. 1. 
(3) OJ No C 35, 16. 2. 1976, p. 44. 
(*) OJ No C 348, 31. 12. 1980, p. 46. Having regard to the oral report made by the 
rapporteur, Mr. Renaud (Article 29 of the Rules of 
Procedure), 
Having regard to the discussions at its 192nd plenary 
session, held on 25 and 26 November 1981 (meeting 
of 26 November 1981), 
Whereas Article 3 (3) of Council Regulation (EEC) 
No 3164/76 stipulates that the Council, acting on a 
proposal from the Commission, shall decide by 30 
November of each year on any increase in the 
Community quota and on the allocation to the 
Member States of the extra authorizations resulting 
thereform'; 
Whereas the Community quota should be adapted in 
line with the analysis of the general economic 
situation, the current situation in the transport 
market, and the short-term forecast of transport 
demand trends, 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
by 46 votes to 28 with 8 abstentions: 
1. The Committee notes first of all that the 
Commission has followed the ESC's 1980 opinion 
and this time has based its proposal to increase the 
overall number of authorizations (approximately 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 348/39 
20%) on statistics, forecasts of the overall demand for 
1982 and the demand pattern of the various modes of 
surface transport. The Commission has also used the 
market observation system to check the extent to 
which the existing intra-Community road haulage 
capacity is utilized. 
2. On the basis of this data, the Commission 
calculates that the total volume of goods covered by 
Community authorizations would increase by about 
1 5 million tons, and the total increase in Community 
authorizations would come to 720. 
3. In distributing Community authorizations 
between the Member States, the Commission rejected 
a linear — i.e. political — increase and has tried to use economic criteria (i.e. share of trade and use of 
authorizations). It also proposes that Greece be 
allocated the same number of extra authorizations as 
Ireland, which would mean a total increase of 760 
authorizations (4 587 in 1982 as against 3 827 in 
1981). 
4. The ESC therefore welcomes the Commission's 
proposal. 
It believes that Community authorizations have 
undeniable advantages over bilateral authorizations 
as regards both consistency with the principles of the 
Treaty of Rome and the rational, efficient 
organization of the international carriage of goods. 
Done at Brussels, 26 November 1981. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Tomas ROSEINGRAVE 
APPENDICES 
to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee 
I. Amendments made to the text in the course of the proceedings 
The foregoing opinion was set out in an amendment which the plenary session accepted in a 
vote by roll call. The following Section opinion was rejected by the plenary session. 
'Whereas the current situation in the transport market does not justify any extra Community 
authorizations, 
HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING OPINION. 
The Section regrets that it is unable to approve the Commission's proposal in its present 
form. 
1. The Section believes that it is dangerous, or at least premature, to go on regularly 
increasing the Community quota without speeding up harmonization between transport 
modes and taking due account of the situation of the other transport modes in the 
forecasts. 
Under these circumstances the Section must once again express its misgivings about one-sided 
liberalization of road transport at a time when the economic situation is so precarious. 
No C 348/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
2. There is no justification for such liberalization. The Commission refers to the IFO report, 
according to which there was a decrease in the carriage of goods by road in 1981 compared 
with 1980. There was a decrease in traffic for all the other modes too. 
If there were only a slight increase in economic growth in 1982 — 1 to 2 % at the most 
according to the forecasts of the IFO Institute — a 20 % increase in the Community quota 
would not be justifiable. 
3. Cyclical fluctuations can be offset by the substantial bilateral quotas with the greatest 
flexibility, as indeed happens in practice. The Community quotas do not possess such 
flexibility. Experience shows that in the case of Community quotas it is practically only those 
traffic links which offer the best return for road haulage which are exploited to the full, while 
the weaker links are used less. It is precisely here that the bilateral quotas could be extremely 
useful. 
4. It must also be said that the apportionment of the Community quota among the Member 
States and the apportionment method used so far need to be reviewed. It cannot be disputed 
that certain possibilities of additional quotas could be created for Greece, the UK and Ireland, 
in so far as agreement is reached on a new method of tailoring quotas. The method used so far 
does not allow a differentiated approach to quotas.' 
II. Voting on the amendment; 
Votes in favour: 66; Votes against 47; Abstentions: 12.