WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3587/97 by Nikitas KAKLAMANIS to the Commission. Free issue of public road transport licences to non-Greek hauliers
Date: 1997-11-13
Institutions: European Parliament, KAKLAMANIS
Subjects: Greece, freedom to provide services, restriction on competition, road cabotage, road transport, transport licence

C 174/80

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

8. 6. 98

In this connection, can the Commission say which organizations carrying out public nature protection tasks ›
e.g. the protection of threatened or sick animals › are covered by the Directive on the freedom of access to
information on the environment (90/313/EEC)? Where the Commission does regard an organization as covered
by the directive, does this apply irrespective of the organization(cid:146)s legal status?

(1)  OJ L 158, 23.6.1990, p. 56.

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(6 January 1998)

Article  6  of  Council  Directive  90/313/EEC  on  the  freedom  of  access  to  information  on  the  environment (1)
stipulates  that  Member  States  must  take  the  necessary  measures  to  ensure  that  information  relating  to  the
environment  held  by  bodies  with  public  responsibilities  for  the  environment  and  under  the  control  of  public
authorities  is  made  available  on  the  same  conditions  as  those  set  out  in  the  Directive  on  information  on  the
environment held by public authorities, either by an intermediary of the competent public authority or directly by
the bodies themselves.

The Directive sets out two conditions which the above-mentioned bodies must abide by in order to be covered by
the provisions of this Directive. They must have public responsibilities for the environment and be under the
control of public authorities. Therefore, if the Directive is to be applicable to it, a body, such as that mentioned by
the Honourable Member, need only meet those two conditions. Without further information, the Commission
cannot say whether or not the body mentioned in the present question is within the scope of Article 6 of Directive
90/313/EEC.

(1)  OJ L 158, 23.6.1990.

(98/C 174/128)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3587/97

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(13 November 1997)

Subject: Free issue of public road transport licences to non-Greek hauliers

The  Greek  authorities  assert  that  the  Commission  is  putting  pressure  on  Greece  to  issue  lorry  licences  to
non-Greek road hauliers without restriction. They also point out that the issue of licences to road hauliers is
completely unrestricted in all the other Member States of the Union.

Will  the  Commission  say  to  what  extent  this  is  true  and  whether  this  measure  is  required  by  Community
legislation and specify the regulations and directives which oblige the Greek authorities to issue these licences
without restriction?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(20 January 1998)

The  Commission  has  not  put  any  pressure  on  the  Greek  authorities  in  the  matter  to  which  the  Honourable
Member refers, namely, the issuing by Greece of licences to non-Greek road hauliers.

The Greek national market, where access has hitherto been rather strictly controlled, is being gradually opened
up  to  non-Greek  hauliers  through  the  cabotage  regime  which  the  Council  adopted  in  1993  under  Regulation
(EEC) No 3118/93 (1).

The  statistical  evidence  so  far  indicates  that  very  few  hauliers  from  other  Member  States  carry  out  cabotage
operations  in  Greece,  the  authorizations  for  which  are  issued  by  the  Member  State  of  establishment  of  the
transport operator, not by Greece.

(1)  OJ L 279, 12.11.1993.