Keywords

Summary



Keywords

++++

1. Transport ° Inland waterway transport ° Structural improvements ° Scrapping premiums ° Granted within the limits of the financial means allocated to the type of vessel concerned

(Council Regulation No 1101/89, Arts 3(3) and 5(1); Commission Regulation No 1102/89, Arts 1(2) and 8)

2. Transport ° Inland waterway transport ° Structural improvements ° Scrapping premiums ° Applications for premiums ° No tacit acceptance of applications exceeding a ceiling fixed by the Community rules

(Commission Regulation No 1102/89, Art. 6(4))

Summary

1. Article 5(1) of Regulation No 1101/89, on structural improvements in inland waterway transport, is not to be interpreted as meaning that a valid application for a scrapping premium must be accepted if the aggregate financial resources available to the Funds of the Member States concerned are sufficient. Nor is that provision to be interpreted as meaning that an application for a scrapping premium for a pusher craft must be accepted if the financial resources available in the common account for dry-cargo vessels and pusher craft, referred to in Article 3(3) of the abovementioned regulation, are sufficient as a whole.

Under the system established by that regulation, the scrapping premiums relating to a type or a category of vessel are granted by the scrapping funds only within the limits of the budget set by the Commission for attaining the aim of reducing cargo-carrying capacity in regard to each type or category of vessel.

Article 1(2) and Article 8 of Regulation No 1102/89 laying down certain measures for implementing Regulation No 1101/89 is therefore to be interpreted as meaning that a valid application for a scrapping premium for a pusher craft must be refused when the financial resources required to cover it exceed the budget of ECU 5 million provided for in Article 1(2) for pusher craft, notwithstanding the fact that the other budgets mentioned in that provision for dry-cargo vessels and/or tanker vessels are not used up after all the applications for scrapping premiums relating to those two types of vessel have been accepted.

Those provisions of Regulation No 1102/89 are not incompatible with Article 3(3) of Regulation No 1101/89. Although the latter provision provides for two separate accounts, one for tanker vessels and the other for dry-cargo vessels and pusher craft jointly, this is only for reasons of financial solidarity established between the scrapping funds and that does not in any way mean that the financial resources necessary for the grant of scrapping premiums cannot be fixed separately for each of the three types of vessel concerned.

2. Having regard to the objectives of Regulation No 1101/89 on structural improvements in inland waterway transport and Regulation No 1102/89 laying down certain measures for implementing Regulation No 1101/89, Article 6(4) of Regulation No 1102/89 is to be interpreted as meaning that an application for a scrapping premium amounting to more than 70% of the rates laid down for each type or category of vessel is not to be deemed to be accepted when the Fund authorities did not inform the applicant in writing, before 1 September 1990, of the result of his application.