COMMON POSITION (EC) No 42/96 adopted by the Council on 27 June 1996 with a view to adopting Council Regulation (EC) No .../96 of ... amending Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 on the granting of aids for transport by rail, road and inland waterway
Date: 1996-06-27
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU aid, combined transport, common transport policy, development plan, inland waterway shipping, transport infrastructure













EUR-Lex - 51996AG0911(02) - EN






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51996AG0911(02)

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 42/96 adopted by the Council on 27 June 1996 with a view to adopting Council Regulation (EC) No .../96 of ... amending Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 on the granting of aids for transport by rail, road and inland waterway  


Official Journal C 264 , 11/09/1996 P. 0005 





COMMON  POSITION (EC) No 42/96 adopted by the Council on 27 June 1996 with a view to adopting Council  Regulation (EC) No . . ./96 of . . . amending Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 on the granting of aids  for transport by rail, road and inland waterway (96/C 264/02) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 75  thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189c of the Treaty (3), Whereas point 1 of Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 (4) provides that the Member States may  grant aid designed to facilitate the development of more economic transport systems and  technologies for the community in general, and the development of combined transport; Whereas the costs of loading and unloading form a significant part of the total cost of transport  by inland waterway; whereas it is essential to the development of inland waterway transport for  major investments to be made to render loading and unloading installations and equipment for  interland waterway terminals more efficient and better suited to the current logistical  requirements; whereas, to this end, it is important that aid granted by the Member States or  through State resources can be made available to the undertakings concerned; Whereas harmonized conditions should be laid down for the granting of this aid for the development  of inland waterway transport and whereas the impact of the aid must be assessed at regular  intervals; Whereas this aid must be granted for a sufficiently long period for the said investment to have the  time to win over the market and bring new traffic to inland waterways and whereas the Council  should decide on subsequent arrangements, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Sole Article The following shall be added to point 1 of Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70: '(f) up to 31 December 1999, where aid is granted on a temporary basis and is designed to  facilitate the development of inland waterway transport, such aid having to be either: - investments in the infrastructure of inland waterway terminals, or - investments in the fixed and mobile equipment needed for loading and unloading.` The aid granted may not exceed 50 % of the total amount of investment. The purpose of the aid shall be to develop new or additional transport tonnage on the inland  waterway. The beneficiaries must comply with the detailed arrangements laid down by the Member  State concerned and shall be responsible for the actual carrying out of the investment. Every two years the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council a progress  report on the implementation of the measures, stating in particular the purpose of the aid, the  amount and its impact on inland waterway transport. The Member States shall provide the Commission  with the information needed to draw up this report. No later than 31 July 1999 the Council shall decide, on a proposal from the Commission and under  the conditions set out in the Treaty, on subsequent arrangements or, where appropriate, on the  conditions for terminating the arrangements. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all  Member States. Done at Luxembourg, . . . For the Council The President (1) OJ No C 318, 29. 11. 1995, p. 12. (2) OJ No C 39, 12. 2. 1996, p. 96. (3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 February 1996 (OJ No C 65, 4. 3. 1996, p. 33), common  position of the Council of 27 June 1996 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Decision of  the European Parliament of . . . (not yet published in the Official Journal). (4) OJ No L 130, 15. 6. 1970, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 3578/92 (OJ No  L 364, 12. 12. 1992, p. 11). STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS I. INTRODUCTION On 15 September 1995 the Commission  submitted to the Council a proposal for a Regulation, based on Article 75 (1) of the EC Treaty,  amending Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 on the granting of aids for transport by rail, road and inland  waterway (1). The European Parliament delivered its opinion on 13 February 1996 (2). The Economic and Social  Committee delivered its opinion on 23 November 1995 (3). In the light of those opinions, the Commission sent the Council an amended proposal on 22 April  1996 (4). The Council adopted its common position, in accordance with Article 189c of the EC Treaty, on 27  June 1996. II. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL The general aim of the Commission proposal is to promote the use of  waterways, which in more than one way represent a mode of transport with advantages for society,  being environment-friendly, showing a high standard of safety, saving energy and helping to ease  congestion on the overcrowded road network in north-western Europe. However, better use of  waterways often requires considerable investment in shippers' internal logistical facilities (quays  and loading and unloading equipment), which may form a sizeable obstacle to the promotion of  waterways. A temporary support scheme for investment in inland waterway terminals therefore needs  to be introduced. This Commission proposal also forms part of the supporting measures for the proposal for a  Directive on the organization of the inland waterway market, involving the discontinuation of  systems of chartering by rotation. III. ASSESSMENT OF THE COMMON POSITION The common position adopted by the Council is largely in  line with the original Commission proposal. Nevertheless, the third subparagraph in Article 1 has  been reworded so as not now explicitly to require an undertaking by aid beneficiaries to provide  new or additional tonnage, failing which aid must be repaid to the competent authorities. The Council did not see the justification for this repayment clause, particularly since there was  no such provision in the other parts of Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70. On the other hand, in the new  wording of the subparagraph, the Council decided to make the granting of aid subject to two  conditions: the investment must actually be carried out and the detailed arrangements laid down by  the Member State must be complied with. IV. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AMENDMENTS (5) Amendment 17, concerning the sixth recital, was not  accepted by the Council, which took the view that, as the amounts of aid were to be set by Member  States, it was not appropriate to include a quantitative requirement there. Amendment 18, concerning Article 1, was also not accepted. On the first part of the Amendment,  involving an explicit reference to telematics and other communications equipment, the Council  considered that, inasmuch as the Regulation covered transhipment of goods by waterway, such  equipment was also included. The second part of Amendment 18, concerning the third subparagraph,  was made redundant by the replacement of that subparagraph by a new wording (see point III above).  Lastly, on the third part of the Amendment, the Council thought it better to keep to the date 31  July 1999 rather than opting for 31 December 1999, the end date for the aid scheme, in order to  allow a while for implementation of the decisions to be taken at that time. The Council did not  therefore accept that aspect of Amendment 18 either. (1) OJ No C 318, 29. 11. 1995, p. 12. (2) OJ No C 65, 4. 3. 1996, p. 32. (3) OJ No C 39, 12. 2. 1996, p. 46. (4) Not yet published in the Official Journal. (5) The European Parliament delivered a single opinion on the three Commission proposals; the only  amendments concerning this proposal are those numbered 17 and 18.