ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES 
DE LA COMMISSION 
 
 
 
COLLECTION RELIEE DES 
DOCUMENTS "COM" 
 
 
 
 
COM (83) 396 
 
 
Vol. 1983/0 149 
  
 
Disclaimer  
Conformém ent au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents 
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit 
règlem ent. 
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the openin g to the public of the historical archives of the European Econom ic 
Communit y and the European Atom ic Energy Communit y (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), this fi le is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.  
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februar 1983  über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen  
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgem einschaft (ABI. L 43 vom  15.2.1983,  
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. Septem ber 2003  
(ABI. L 243 vom 27. 9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit  
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5  
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben.  
COMMISSION  OF  THE  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussel,  24 June  1983 
COMMUNICATION  FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE  COUNCIL 
on obstacles  to closer international cooperation 
between the railways 
COM (83)  396 final COM (83 ) 396 final 

Exposition  of Motives 
The Commission, in its communication of 7th May 1982 (1) on an  action 
programme  for international  railway co-operation  announced a  series  of 
initiatives  concerning  obstacles  to closer co-operation. 
This current report  concerns  general external statutory obstacles  and 
concludes  that there  is no need for community  action. 
(1) Doc. C0MC82)  237 final 

- 1 - VII/151/83-EN 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. In  its Communication  on an  action programme for  international railway 
cooperationd)  of 7 May, 1982, the  Commission  announced  a series of 
initiatives  regarding obstacles  to closer cooperation. 
^Communication  identified  the following kinds  of obstacle: 
a) General  external obstacles: 
those connected  with the statutes  of the  railway  undertakings  or 
with general rules  concerning  transport; 
those connected  with the difference  in the  role of the  railways 
from one Member  State to another; 
b) General  internal obstacles:  staff  motivation  and preparation 
c) External obstacles  to the  crossing  of frontiers 
d) Internal obstacles  to the  crossing  of frontiers 
those relating  to operating  difficulties; 
those relating  to infrastructure  investment. 
(1) 
(2) C0M(82)237-Final 
O.J. C 127,  18.5.1982. 2. As  regards  the measures  concerning  staff, (b) the  Commission  has set up 
a group of seven railway experts  and is  preparing with  them a staff 
training  programme  which,  after consultation with  the unions,  could be 
sent to the  Council  by the end of 1983 at the  latest. 
As regards  the measures  concerning  external obstacles  to the  crossing 
of frontiers,  (c), discussions  are continuing  on the  draft Directive  on 
the facilitation  of formalities  and inspections  in respect of the  carriage 
of goods between  Member  States(2),  which the Commission  sent to the 
Council on 16. 4. 1982 and  which should be adopted  at the !une 1983 
Council meeting  on the German  presidency. 

2 VII/151/83-EN 
Finally,  as regards  the measures  to be  taken concerning  internal  obstacles 
to the crossing  of frontiers,  (d), and as  regards railway operation  the 
Commission  believes that  such matters could  be usefully  discussed  at the 
same time as those concerning  the technical matters  relating  to freight 
operations (Point II.A.  in the  Communication  of May,  1982),  which are 
the subject  of a separate  Commission  initiative. 
Measures  concerning railway  infrastructure  at frontiers  - the inadequacies 
of which can delay international  traffic  - are being continued  in the  wider 
context of developing  the network  of Community  interest  and introducing 
a system  of special  financial  support  for transport  infrastructure.  For 
instance,  a major  frontier  railway  station  is among  projects  to benefit 
from the first financial  support  measure  pursuant  to Council Regulation 
(EEC) No. 3600/82  of 30 December  1982 on limited  support  in the  field 
of transport  infrastructure  (O.J. L 376 of 31 December  1982). 
Further to the  Group of Ten's efforts  to achieve greater cooperation  on 
transport  infrastructure,  the Member  States should indicate  which projects 
have been given  priority. 
3- This leaves general external obstacles,  of which there are two  kinds: 
statutes  and rules, and the  difference  from one Member  State to the  next 
in the conception  of the  railways'  role. The first kind of obstacle, 
statutes  and rules, is examined  in this Communication.  Differences  in 
concept of the  railways'  role will be considered  later. 

- 3 - VII/151/83-EN 
II. General external obstacles  connected  with the railways' statutes or 
with general rules concerning transport 
4. In its  paper of October  1981 entitled  "Cooperation  between  the Railways: 
Progress, Prospects and  Priorities",  the Group  of Ten Railways of the 
European  Communities  discussed the obstacles  resulting  from the railways' 
legal status (Point  3.1.).  Such obstacles, it  said, were to be found 
(a) primarily in the  fields  of pricing  and, to an  even greater extent, 
staff policy,  and (b) also in connection with  financial  holdings, the 
use of other  methods  of transport or the pursuit of other  forms  of 
business  activity. 
Although there are no  direct  references to these obstacles in the 
list of priorities,  the parts  where  action by the  Community  and by 
governments  is discussed do refer to the  need to grant greater  autonomy 
to the raiwlays and increase  their opportunities of providing a  complete 
service. 
5. Legal obstacles to the  commercial  management  of the railways are, or 
have been,  the subject of other  initiatives. 
The Council  adopted  a Decision on the carriage of  goods on 19 July  1982(2), 
and a similar  measure  has been put forward for  passenger  transport (3). 
In addition, part of the  Commission's  action  programme  is devoted  to 
commercial  management. 
6. To return to the general obstacles remaining, therefore, i.e., operations, 
share purchases  and certain  financial  aspects, in  '! ?80 the  Commission 
consultancy (3) to study the general  problems  obst.acting cooperation 
between  the railway undertakings. 
The study  took two years, and the  results  were sent to the  n?i:works  and 
their respective  governments.  The study's conclusions may be  summarized 
as follows:-
repeated investigations  showed  there were no significant  Legal 
obstacles to cooperation deriving  from the networks'  national 
statutes; 
(1) O.J. L  234/5  of 9 August,  1982. 
(2) O.J. C 23/12 of 28  January,  1983. 
(3) DMTP  Research  Centre  at University of Paris IX -  Dauphine. 

4 VII/151/83-EN 
if the amount  of government  aid to the railways increases considerably 
year by year, as a  result  of difficult  operating conditions, the  rail­
ways cannot  expect simply by quoting  their statutes to  ward off the 
necessarily  very searching discussions with  government  about the 
management  of their networks, or state-imposed controls in  this 
respect. 
7. During the  summer  of 1982, the  Commission  therefore  approached  the railways 
to explore  jointly  what measures  could be put forward to the  Commission. 
The upshot, for all undertakings with the exception of FS is that general 
external  obstacles as regards operations are not  prohibitive  in nature. 
It seems,  even, that Community  measures  in this field might  hinder those 
undertakings  which  enjoy above-average  autonomy,  without being  sufficiently 
binding  or specific  as to produce  any changes  in certain  situations. 
8. The consultancy also studied the obstacles to share purchases and other 
financial  measures  to which the Commission  had said it would devote 
special  attention.  The replies  to a questionnaire sent out to the 
undertakings  showed  that a  government  authorization is almost  always  needed 
before holdings can be purchased or  capital  increased,  either  above,  a 
certain  figure  (DB: DM 1  million,  FS:LIT.  20 000  million,  Eurofima loans) 
or within the  overall  borrowing  limits  permitted  (SNCF). 
DMTP also found that there  were no instances of a  government  having 
refused  to authorize the taking of a holding in a subsidiary  company. 
As a result,  the Commission  inclines  to the  view that, even if a 
request for authorization can be  seen as a constraint,  it cannot  be regarded 
as a real obstacle and that, in those cases  where networks  are free to act 
within  ce.tain  financial  limits,  what restriction  there is can be explained 
by the desire fo the supervisory authority,  which is also responsible for 
other sectors, in  view of the very  difficult  current  financial  situation 
of the majority of railway undertakings, to maintain  some control  over 
their finances. 

- 5 - VII/151/83-EN 
The Commission  feels therefore that  Community  action as regards operations 
and share purchases  cannot  be encompassed  in legislation,  but that govern­
ments should support and  promote  - perhaps  by financial  means  - the creation 
of special  Community  funds. 
9. The  situation  as regards FS  would appear  to be somewhat  different.  It is 
of course the current  legal  situation  that is relevant and not the  changes 
that may result  from the Bill for reforming FS's statutes being  adopted  by 
the Italian  Parliament. 
The problems  in connection with FS  were discussed in the study  referred  to. 
They are of two kinds: those connected with the  difficulties  of moving 
traffic  across the Alps and those  arising  from FS's lack of  autonomy. 
As regards the  first kind, the  Commission  sent a  recommendation  to the 
Italian  Republic on 22 February  1982.(1) 
By letter  dated 15  July 1982, the  Italian  Government  reported on the progress 
and extent of the  work that had  been begun on Italy's  international  rail 
links. It also supplied information on a  number  of other  topics:  frontier 
inspections,  combined  transport,  traction  problems  (staff and rolling  stock), 
tariffs,  measures  relating  to the  movement  of whole  mini-train  loads, 
monitoring of  train and wagon  running,  technical  inspections and routing on 
priority  routes. 
In view of these  measures  and of the present  situation  - characterized by 
a general  fall in traffic  - no major  difficulties  were encountered in 1982. 
For the  first time in  many years,  even during  July and August  - months  of 
heavy passenger  traffic  - the carriage of  goods has proceeded  undisturbed. 
(1) O.J. L 78 of 24  March,  1982. 

- 6 -VII/151/83-EN 
As regards  the second  category,  the Commission  has received  a further reply 
from FS stating  those areas where  state intervention consists  of granting 
authorizations  which may affect  the management of the  undertaking. 
The Commission  feels,  therefore, that,  when it  gives its opinion  on the 
proposed  FS statutes  under the Consultation  procedure  already started, 
it will have to take the needs of increased international railway  coopera­
tion into account. 
III. Conclusion 
In conclusion  it appears  neither  necessary  nor useful that  the 
Commission  or the  Council, given  the limited  field of action,  to 
take direct  initiatives.  It is  sufficient  that Member  States be 
aware, case by case, of the  possible  difficulties  that may arise.