Council Resolution of 14 February 2000 on the promotion of intermodality and intermodal freight transport in the European Union
Date: 2000-02-14
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, European Union, carriage of goods, combined transport, transport policy

29.2.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 56/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 14 February 2000

on the promotion of intermodality and intermodal freight transport in the European Union

(2000/C 56/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EURPEAN UNION,

in-time logistics, electronic commerce)(cid:146) with a view to
developing actions consistent with the general goal of
sustainable mobility.

and Intermodal

(1) WELCOMES the Commission Communication on Inter-
modality
in the
European Union of October 1999 and the Communi-
cation on the Progress of
the
the Implementation of
Action Programme of June 1997 contained therein.

Freight Transport

(2) NOTES with satisfaction that most projects in the action
programme have been lauchned and encourages
the
Commission to continue its implementation.

(3) IS OF THE OPINION that functional and logistically efficient
freight transport systems contribute to the development of
economic activity within the Community for the benefit
of its citizens and enterprises.

(4) ENDORSES the objective set by the Commission to develop
Intermodal Freight Transport, i.e. an optimal integration
transport modes enabling an efficient and
of different
cost-effective use of
system through
transport
seamless, customer-oriented door-to-door services, whilst
favouring competition between transport operators.

the

(5) RECALLS that the Council strategy of 6 October 1999 on
the integration of environment and sustainable devel-
opment into the transport policy (cid:145)underlines that further
progress is required, notably in the . . promotion of
. .
intermodal and combined transport
the standard-
isation and harmonisation of intermodal transport units
. . the competitiveness and the quality of services of ports
and other intermodal terminals and railways, e.g. by the
increased use of
the
different liability regimes(cid:146).

(and the study of)

telematics

. . .

. .

short
in this context,

(7) REAFFIRMS its determination to promote transport modes
in particular rail
contributing to sustainable transport,
sea shipping and inland navigations;
transport,
its conlcusions of 6 October
RECALLS,
1999 on the revitalisation of
the European railways
referring, in particular, to the establsihment of a Trans-
European Rail Freight Network (TERFN) and its Resolution
of 11 March 1996 on short sea shipping (1), Conclusions
of 18 June 1997 and Resolution of 14 February 2000 on
the promotion of short sea shipping (2).

framework of

the Community as well as

(8) RECALLS the importance of the revision of the relevant
legal
the
importance of research, development and demonstration
on intermodal transport and notes with satisfaction the
role of studies in this field in key actions of the Fifth RTD
Framework Programme
established by Decision No
182/1999/EC (3).

(9) INVITES all parties concerned to work actively towards a
sound operational market environment
for intermodal
transport, so as to make intermodality, where feasible, a
viable and environmentally friendly alternative to single
mode road transport.

(10) NOTES that further work must be concentrated on ident-
in competing

transport

ifying obstacles to intermodal
successfully in the market.

(6) EMPHASISES, the need determined by the same strategy (cid:145)to
continue to analyse the relationship between transport
(demand) and . . . the organisation of industrial production
just-
and services

(globalisation, market deregulation,

(1) OJ C 99, 2.4.1996, p. 1.
(2) See page 1 of this Official Journal
(3) OJ L 26, 1.2.1999, p. 1.

C 56/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

29.2.2000

(11) INVITES the Commission, in cooperation with the Member
States,
the
promotion of intermodal transport including combined
transport, in particular, by:

to continue and intensify its work for

(a) including intermodality in its revision of the TEN-T
through reference to concrete actions with a view to
achieving sustainable mobility, such as:

(cid:151) setting up new tools for assessing the ability of
planned infrastructures and actions
to transfer
some road transport demand towards more envi-
ronmentally friedly modes,

(cid:151) alleviating the bottlenecks

for

intermodalism,

including those in the context of TERFN,

(cid:151) developing

and

optimising

terminals

for

intermodal transport;

(b) taking account of

intermodalism with a view to
creating a level playing field in the transport market
when submitting, during the year 2000, a proposal for
a revision of Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 of
the
Council of 4 June 1970 on the granting of aids for
transport by rail, road and inland waterway (1) with
regard to aid to combined transport;

(c)

integrating the information society into the European
transport system, e.g. by submitting proposals for
establishing an open architecture for data transfer
and transport telematics;

(d) contributing to the realisation of an open and efficient
real-time information and transaction systems, as a
tool for shippers and intermodal transport operators;

(e) continuing,

the
together with the Member States,
industry and relevant international organisations,
its
efforts to promote an appropriate liability regime in
inter alia, by exploring the aspects of a
that area,
liability regime for
transport and by
intermodal
presenting a report on the economic analysis of the
consequences of the absence of a generally accepted
liability regime and on the work being
intermodal
undertaken with the industry on the legal and
economic advantages of the different solutions for a
liability regime for intermodal transport;

(1) OJ L 130, 15.6.1970, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 543/97 (OJ L 84, 26.3.1997, p. 6).

intermodalism;

(f) presenting a communication on (cid:145)Benchmarking in
Transport(cid:146) and developing key performance indicators
for freight
in this context, demon-
strating the potential cost-effectiveness of intermodal
and
transport projects
information on best practices, particularly taking into
account the experience gained from the Pilot Actions
for Combined Transport (PACT)-programme and the
different projects under the Fifth RTD Framework
Programme,

and publishing examples

of

transport,

(g) directing, when proposing measures in the field of
transport, the measures to the logistic and transport
system as a whole and not solely to the individual
modes
on
harmonising the standards related to transport units
and on technologies for cheaper, more efficient and
environmentally friendly freight handling;
to this
end, presenting a communication on Supply Chain
Management,
transport by
logistics and intermodal
the end of year 2001;

focusing,

inter

alia,

(h) planning for an appropriate follow-up to the PACT

programme, focussing on innovative projects;

(i) extending the action programme on intermodality to
more integrated Intelligent Transport System applica-
tions, electronic commerce applications and demon-
stration projects and

(j) bolstering the role of

projects on intermodal
framework programmes.

research and development
in the RTD

transport

(12) INVITES the applicant countries

to follow the above
objectives and actions when formulating national and
local strategies.

(13) INTENDS to follow regularly the development
transport
intermodal

freight

modality
European Union.

and

in inter-
in the

(14) INVITES the Commission to transmit to the Council,

in
2001, its next progress progress report on intermodality
and intermodal freight transport in the European Union,
with possible proposals.