ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(81)745
Vol.1981/0212

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
DecisionoftheRepresentatives oftheGovernments oftheMemberStates
oftheEuropeanCoalandSteelCommunity,meetinginCouncil,authorizing
theCommissiontoopennegotiations withYugoslaviaconcerningthe
conclusionofanagreementontheestablishment ofthroughinternational
railwaytariffsforthecarriageofcoalandsteelintransitthroughthe
territoryofYugoslaviaCOM(81)745 final
Brussels,4December1981
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ProposalfProposalfora
(submittedtotheCouncilbytheCommission )
C0M(81)745final

■t>
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. Tft*Agr**»i»nt b»tw»«n th«r«pr«»ent*tiv »»ofih«Government® oft&•
Member States oftheECSC ,meeting inCouncil ,of21March 1955 (l)onthe
establishment ofthrough international railway tariffs onthecarriage of
coal andsteel byrail ,conluded inimplementation ofArticle 70oftheECSC
Treaty andsection 10(2)and (3),point 2oftheAgreement onthetransition­
alprovisions under theECSC Treaty ,covers theextension ofthese through
tariffs totraffic passing intransit through theterritory ofthird countries .
2. On16July 1955$ inimplementation ofArticle 15oftheAgreement of21
March 1955 ,theRepresentatives oftheGovernments oftheMember States ofthe
ECSC ,meeting inCouncil ,adopted adocument entitled "Instructions forthe
conduct ofnegotiations with third countries "andauthorized theHigh Authority
toenter into negotiations with ,firstly ,Switzerland andlater ,Austria .
«
TheCouncil specified that these instructions were "valid foranynegotiat­
ions with third states ontraffic passing intransit through their territory ".
However ,itwas stated "that thematter should belaid before theCouncil prior
toanynegotiations with other third states concerning carriage operations in
transit ."
3. These negotiations gave rise totwoagreements :onedated 28July 1956
with Switzerland (2)andtheother of26July 1957 with Austria (3)»both of
which are still inforce . '
Following theaccession ofGreece totheCommunity ,thethrough internat­
ional railway tariffs established pursuant totheAgreement of21March 1955
referred toabove ,were extended on1January 1981 tocover carriage operations
between Greece andtheother Member States oftheCommunity andvice versa .
1. With regard totraffic passing intransit through Austria ,.theagreement
specifically mentioning thetraffic links with Italy' will beadapted tothenew
situation byasecond additional protocol tothi§agreement .TheECSC/Switzer­
land agreement requires nospecific adaptation .
(1)O.J. oftheECSC No.9,19April 1955
(2)0«,J.oftheECSC No.17,29May1957
(3)OoJ.oftheECSC No.6,20February 1958 ./...

Nevertheless ,inpractical terms theAustrian andSwiss railways have
agreed that from 1January 1981 theroutes andtransit sections concerned
inthe carriage ofECSC goods toand from Greece shall beincluded inthe
railway tariffs .
Inthe absence ofagovernment-level arrangement with Yugoslavia and
ofacommercial agreement with theYugoslav railways covering transit through
Yugoslavia ,ECSC tariff No.9001 does notmention the cost oftransit through
Yugoslavia ,nor istherelative length ofthetransit journey through this
country taken into account incalculating thecarriage rate inaccordance
with .the formula contained inthis tariff .
Inthis context theproblem oftransit through Yugoslavia arises both
politically and legally interms similar tothose applying toSwitzerland
in1956 andAustria in1957 *Inthecurrent trading situation with Greece
viaYugoslavia ,however ,the economic aspect does nothave the same importance ,
but thesituation could change instep with integration ,which will thus be
eased bythe creation ofarailway tariff union including asignificant transit
section through Yugoslavia which isinthe commercial intersts ofall ofthe
railway companies concerned bythese tariffs .This being the case thenegotiat­
ionwith Yugoslavia ofanagreement similar tothose already inforce seems to
benecessary inorder topromote the expansion ofECSC rail traffic with
Greece .Inter alia ,anagreement ofthis type would enable thedifficulties
resulting from inadequate cooperation between therailways concerned tobe
overcome .
Thenegotiation directives annexed tothe appended proposal for a
%
decision incorporate insimplified form theinstructions given totheHigh
Authority for theconduct ofnegotiations with third countries in1955 *while
taking account ofchanges inthe tariff situation since that date .

Proposal for a
Decision oftheRepresentatives oftheGovernments ofthe
Member States oftheEurqpean Coal andSteel Community ,
meeting inCouncil ,authorizing theCommission toopen negotiations
with Yugoslavia
concerning theconclusion ofanagreement onthe establish­
ment ofthrough international railway tariffs for the carriage
ofcoal and steel intransit through the territory ofYugoslavia
THE REPRESENTATIVES OFTHEGOVERNMENTS OFTHEMEMBER .STATES OFTHE
EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY ,MEETING INCOUNCIL ,
Having regard totheTreaty establishing theEuropean Coal and Steel Community ,
and inparticular Article 70thereof ,
Having regard toArticle 10oftheConvention onthetransitional provisions drawn
'upinaccordance with Article 85oftheTreaty ,
Having regard totheAgreement of21March 1955 onthe establishment of
through international railway tariffs ,and inparticular Article 15thereof ;
Inagreement with theCommission ,
Whereas theaccession ofGreece tothe said Agree­
ment requires the establishment ofthrough international railway tariffs
between Greece and the other Member States ;
Whereas the carriage operations inquestion are incertain cases performed
intransit through theterritory ofSwitzerland ,Austria andYugoslavia ;
Whereas transit through Switzerland andAustria iscovered bytwoagreements
concluded on28July 195^and26July 1957 respectively ;
Whereas theconclusion ofanagreement ontransit through Yugoslavia similar
tothetwoagreements referred toabove would beappropriate ;
(•
I
Whereas negotiations should therefore beopened with Yugoslavia ;
HAVE DECIDED ASFOLLOWS

Sole Article
TheCommission ishereby authorized toenter into negotiations with
Yugoslavia for thepurpose ofconcluding anagreement between the 'Govern­
ment ofthe Federal Socialist Republic ofYugoslavia ,ontheone hand ,andthe
Governments oftheMember States oftheEuorpean Coal andSteel Community and v
the Commission oftheEuropean Communities ,ontheother hand >ontheestablishment
ofthrough international tariffs forthecarriage ofcoal andsteel passing in
transit through Yugoslav territory .
Inconducting these negotiations theCommission will beguided bythe
directives annexed hereto .
Done atBrussels , >
The President

ANNEX
DIRECTIVES ONTHE CONDUCT OFNEGOTIATIONS
1.General principle
The establishment ofthrough international tariffs for transit through
non-member States requires the Laying down bytheGovernments ofrules on:
-therates andconditions tobeapplied bytherailways intheMember States
-therates and conditions tobeapplied bytheYugoslav railways .
Itisrecognized that there isalink between these twopoints and
that the solution tobesought must guarantee areasonable balance between
the interests oftheparties tothe agreement .
2.Commitments tobeentered into bythe Governments ofthe Member States
The Governments oftheMember States shall instruct their railways to
calculate their participation asfollows :
a)Theterminal charges atthetransit points with thethird states shall
bereduced under .conditipns identical tothose inTitle III ofthe
Agreement of21March 1955 »
b)Thedistance charges andthecoefficients ofdegressivity corresponding
tothetotal distance ,non-member States included ,shall becalculated
under conditions identical tothose inTitle IVoftheAgreement of21
March 1955 *
3-Commitments tobeentered into byYugoslavia
Yugoslavia shall undertake toensure that theYugoslav Railways (J.Z. )
observe thefollowing principles :
-Acceptance oftheban ondiscriminatory practices applying torates and
conditions ofcarriage ofalltypes based onthecountry oforigin
ordestination oftheproducts ,inrespect oftraffic incoal andsteel
between theMember States oftheCommunity using Yugoslav railway lines
intransit :
•/•••

-2-
Making transit journeys available atareasonable rate ascompared with
the carriage rates applied tocomparable operations subject tonational
rates ;
Acceptance bytheJ.Z. oftheprinciple ofcooperation with Community
railways inorder jointly tofind just solutions for the ECSC carriage
operations atissue inthe interests ofall ofthe railways involved .