Common Position (EC) No 37/2003 of 25 April 2003 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, 2003 with a view to adopting a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the granting of Community financial assistance to improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system (Marco Polo programme)
Date: 2003-04-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU programme, balance of payments assistance, carriage of goods, combined transport, environmental protection, sustainable development

C 153 E/252

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

1.7.2003

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 37/2003

adopted by the Council on 25 April 2003

with a view to the adoption of a Regulation (EC) No . . ./2003 of the European Parliament and of
the Council of . . . on the granting of Community financial assistance to improve the environ-
mental performance of the freight transport system (‘Marco Polo Programme’)

(2003/C 153 E/03)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Articles 71(1) and 80(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (2),

Having regard to the opinion of
Regions (3),

the Committee of

the

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (4),

Whereas:

(1) The European Council held at Göteborg on 15 and 16
June 2001 declared that shifting the balance between the
modes of transport is at the heart of the sustainable devel-
opment strategy.

(2)

(3)

If no decisive action is taken, total road freight transport
in Europe is set to grow by about 50 % by 2010. The
effect would be a growth of international road freight of
about 12 billion tonne-kilometres per year.

to decide’,

‘European transport policy for 2010:
In its White Paper,
time
the Commission proposed to take
measures which should make the market shares of the
modes of
to their 1998
levels. This will prepare the ground for a shift of
balance from 2010 onwards.

return, by 2010,

transport

(1) OJ C 126 E, 28.5.2002, p. 354.
(2) OJ C 241, 7.10.2002, p. 37.
(3) OJ C 278, 14.11.2002, p. 15.
(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 25 September 2002 (not yet
published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 25
April 2003 and Decision of the European Parliament of . . . (not yet
published in the Official Journal).

thereby

contributing

the ‘Marco Polo Programme’, or

is necessary to establish a programme, hereinafter
It
referred to as
‘the
Programme’, to reduce road congestion and to improve
the environmental performance of the freight transport
system within the Community and to enhance inter-
and
modality,
sustainable transport system. To achieve this objective,
the Programme should support actions in the freight
transport,
relevant markets. These
actions should contribute to maintaining the distribution
of freight between the various modes of transport at 1998
levels by helping to shift the expected aggregate increase
in international road freight traffic to short sea shipping,
rail and inland waterways or to a combination of modes of
transport in which road journeys are as short as possible.

logistics and other

to an efficient

(5) The Marco Polo Programme will feature three types of
firstly, modal shift actions, which should focus
action:
on shifting as much cargo as possible under current
market conditions from road to short sea shipping, rail
and inland waterways; secondly, catalyst actions, which
is
should change the way non-road freight
conducted in the Community; and thirdly, common
learning actions, which should enhance knowledge in
the freight logistics sector and foster advanced methods
and procedures of cooperation in the freight market.

transport

countries

involve the territory of at

(6) Actions must
two
countries.
If these two countries are Member States or
Polo
other
in
Programme under the conditions laid down in this Regu-
lation, the Programme will re-imburse the costs incurred
by the participating undertakings within the limits laid
down in the Regulation.

participating

the Marco

least

(7)

In order to reflect the European dimension of the actions,
cooperation should be encouraged between undertakings
established in different countries,
in the form of a
consortium submitting an action.

(8) Applicants should be able to submit new or, where appro-
priate, existing projects which best match current market
needs. Suitable projects should not be discouraged by any
over-rigid definition of allowable actions. In particular, the
flexibility given to the Commission, assisted by the
Committee set up under Article 12(1), for the selection
of projects should enable projects which are efficient but
under the minimum indicative subsidy threshold to be
eligible for Community financial assistance.

1.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 153 E/253

(9) There may be cases in which the benefits of developing an
existing service may be at least equal in terms of additional
shift, quality and environmental and viability
modal
advantages
starting up a new service
involving considerable expense.

to those of

(10) To be transparent, objective and clearly delimited, aid for
the launch of modal shift actions should be based on cost
savings for society brought about by use of short sea
shipping, rail and inland waterways, or a combination of
modes of transport, instead and in place of road transport
alone. For
set an
indicative amount of financial assistance of EUR 1 for
each shift of 500 tonne-kilometres of road freight.

the Commission has

reason,

this

(11) Considering, on the one hand, the importance of the inter-
nalisation of external, particularly environmental, costs,
acknowledged both in the White Paper
‘European
transport policy for 2010: time to decide’ and in the
conclusions of the Göteborg European Council, and on
the other hand, the speed at which the transport market
is changing, it should be possible to take account of future
work on developing methods to internalise external costs,
regularly evaluate the development of external cost differ-
to the
entials and propose any necessary adjustment
indicative amount of financial assistance accordingly.

(12) The results of the catalyst and common learning actions of
the Programme should be adequately disseminated,
in
order to ascertain replication, publicity and transparency.

it

and does not

contribution to the

is necessary to ensure that

(13) During the selection procedure and during the lifetime of
the project
the project,
common
chosen makes a real
cause unacceptable
transport policy
distortions of
competition. The Commission should
therefore evaluate the implementation of this Regulation.
It should present, not later than 31 December 2006, an
assessment
the Marco Polo
Programme, accompanied if necessary by a proposal for
the amendment of this Regulation.

report on the results of

down the procedures for the exercise of implementing
powers conferred on the Commission (1).

(16) A financial reference amount, within the meaning of point
33 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999
between the European Parliament, the Council and the
Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement
of the budgetary procedure is inserted in this Regulation
for the entire duration of the Programme, without the
powers of
the budgetary authority as defined by the
Treaty being affected thereby.

(17) In order to administer funding under this Regulation in
this Regulation
into force as soon as possible after its

the most expedient and speedy way,
should enter
adoption,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

OBJECTIVE, DEFINITIONS AND SCOPE

Article 1

Objective

transport,

This Regulation establishes a financing instrument, hereinafter
referred to as the ‘Marco Polo Programme’, or ‘the Programme’,
to improve the
the objective being to reduce congestion,
environmental performance of the transport system and to
thereby contributing to an
enhance intermodal
efficient and sustainable transport
the period
for
from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2010 in order to
achieve, by the end of the Programme, a traffic shift of the
expected yearly aggregate increase of international road freight
traffic, measured in tonne-kilometres, to short sea shipping, rail
and inland waterways or
to a combination of modes of
transport in which road journeys are as short as possible.

system,

(14) Since the objective of the Marco Polo Programme cannot
be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can
therefore, by reason of the scope of the Programme, be
better achieved at Community level, the Community may
adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsi-
diarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance
with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that
Article,
is
necessary in order to achieve that objective.

this Regulation does not go beyond what

(15) The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Regulation should be
adopted in accordance with
Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

(a)

‘action’ shall mean any project related to the logistics
market, executed by undertakings, which contributes to
reducing congestion in the road freight transport system
and/or to improving the environmental performance of the
to and from
transport system by optimising transport
intermodal
the
transport chains,
Member States;

in the territories of

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

C 153 E/254

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

1.7.2003

(b) ‘modal shift action’ shall mean any action directly and
sea
immediately shifting freight
shipping,
inland waterways or a combination of
modes of transport in which road journeys are as short
as possible, without being a catalyst action;

from road to short

rail,

(c)

‘catalyst action’ shall mean any innovative action aimed at
overcoming Community-relevant structural barriers in the
market for freight
transport which impede the efficient
functioning of the markets, the competitiveness of short
sea shipping, rail, or inland waterways, and/or the effi-
ciency of transport chains making use of these modes;
‘structural market
for
barrier’
and
factual
non-temporary impediment to the proper functioning of
the freight transport chain;

shall mean any non-regulatory,

the purpose of

this definition,

(d)

‘common learning action’ shall mean any action aimed at
improving cooperation for structurally optimising working
transport chain,
methods and procedures in the freight
taking into account the requirements of logistics;

(e)

‘accompanying measure’ shall mean any measure which
seeks to prepare for or to support current or future
actions, inter alia dissemination activities and project moni-
toring and evaluation, and the collection and analysis of
statistical data. Measures devoted to the commercialisation
of products, processes or services, marketing activities and
sales promotion are not ‘accompanying measures’;

(f)

‘preparatory measure’ shall mean any action in preparation
for a catalyst action, such as technical, operational or
financial feasibility studies and equipment tests;

(g)

‘consortium’ shall mean any arrangement by which at least
two undertakings execute together and share the risk
concerning an action;

(h) ‘undertaking’ shall mean any entity engaged in an economic
activity, regardless of the legal status of the entity and the
way in which it is financed;

(i)

‘ancillary’ shall mean necessary, but subordinate, to achieve
the goals of ‘modal shift actions’ or ‘catalyst actions’;

(k)

‘close third country’ shall mean any non-Member State of
the European Union or candidate country for accession to
the European Union with a common border with the
European Union or with a coastline on a closed or semi-
closed sea neighbouring on the European Union.

Article 3

Scope

The Marco Polo Programme shall cover modal shift

1.
actions, catalyst actions and common learning actions:

(a)

involving the territory of at least two Member States, or

(b) involving the territory of at least one Member State and the

territory of a close third country.

2. Where an action involves the territory of a third country,
that country shall not be
costs arising in the territory of
covered by the Programme, except
in the circumstances
mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 4.

3.
The Programme shall be open to participation by
countries which are candidates for accession. Participation
will be governed by the
laid down in the
Association Agreements with those countries, and on the
basis of the rules laid down in the decision of the Association
Council for each country concerned.

conditions

4.
The Programme shall also be open to participation by the
EFTA and EEA Member States on the basis of supplementary
appropriations in accordance with procedures to be agreed
with those countries.

CHAPTER II

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS AND ACTIONS

Article 4

Eligible applicants

1.
As a general rule, projects shall be submitted by a
consortium of two or more undertakings, established in at
least two different Member States or in at least one Member
State and one close third country.

(j)

‘tonne-kilometre’ shall mean the transport of a tonne of
freight, or its volumetric equivalent, over a distance of
one kilometre;

2.
Undertakings established outside the Community or
outside one of the participant countries referred to in Article
3(3) and (4) which may be associated with the project may
under no circumstances receive Community funding under the
Programme.

1.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 153 E/255

Article 5

Modal shift action

1. Modal shift actions,
the
additional modal shift brought about by the development of
an existing service, shall be eligible for funding under the
Programme provided that the following conditions are satisfied:

including, where appropriate,

(a) the modal shift action is expected to lead to an actual,
substantial, measurable and sustainable modal shift of
freight
from road to short sea shipping, rail,
inland waterways or a combination of modes of transport
in which road journeys are as short as possible;

transport

(b) according to a realistic business plan, the modal shift action
will be viable on its own after a maximum of 36 months of
Community funding;

(c) the modal shift action will not

lead to distortions of
competition in the
in particular
between alternative modes of transport to road transport
alone or within each mode, to an extent which damages
the common interest;

relevant markets,

EUR 1 for each shift of 500 tonne-kilometres of road freight.
This indicative amount could be adjusted,
in
accordance with the quality of the project or the real environ-
mental benefit obtained.

in particular,

In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 12(2),
the Commission may re-examine,
from time to time as
necessary, the developments concerning the items on which
this calculation is based and, if necessary, adapt the amount
of Community financial assistance accordingly.

4.
Community financial assistance for modal shift actions
shall be granted on the basis of subsidy agreements. As a
rule, the maximum duration of these agreements shall be 38
months.

Community financial assistance shall not be renewable beyond
the stipulated maximum period of 38 months.

5.
The minimum indicative subsidy threshold per modal
shift action shall be 250 million tonne-kilometres of modal
shift or, in proportion to the indicative amount per euro of
subsidy, EUR 500 000.

(d) when the action requires reliance on services provided by
third parties not part of
the applicant
submits proof of a transparent, objective and non-discrimi-
natory procedure for selection of the relevant services.

the consortium,

Article 6

Catalyst actions

Catalyst actions shall be eligible for funding under the
1.
Programme provided that the following conditions are satisfied:

Community financial assistance for modal shift actions
2.
shall be limited to a maximum of 30 % of the total expenditure
necessary to achieve the objectives of the action and incurred
as a result of the action. Such expenditure shall be eligible for
Community financial assistance to the extent to which it relates
directly to the implementation of the action. Ancillary infra-
structure expenditure shall also be eligible for Community
financial assistance, as long as it remains marginal, up to a
maximum of 30 %. Expenditure incurred on or after the date
the selection
of
procedure shall be eligible for Community financial assistance
provided that final approval for Community funding is given.
A contribution towards the costs of movable assets shall be
contingent on the obligation to use such assets for the duration
of the assistance, principally for the action, as defined by the
subsidy agreement.

the submission of an application under

(a) the catalyst action will achieve its objectives within a
period of a maximum of 48 months, and stay viable
after that period, as forecast by a realistic business plan;

(b) the catalyst action is innovative on a European level,

terms of
products or services rendered;

logistics,

technology, methods,

in
equipment,

(c)

the catalyst action is expected to lead to an actual,
measurable and sustainable modal shift
from road to
short sea shipping, rail, inland waterways, or a combination
of modes of transport in which road journeys are as short
as possible. The catalyst action is expected to lead to a
reduction of congestion in road transport and not to a
shift between short sea shipping, rail and inland waterways;

3.
The Community financial assistance under paragraph 2
determined by the Commission on the basis of the tonne-kilo-
metres shifted from road to short sea shipping, rail,
inland
waterways or a combination of modes of transport in which
road journeys are as short as possible shall initially be set at

(d) the catalyst action proposes a realistic plan setting out the
specific stages by which it seeks to achieve its objectives
and identifies the need for Commission steering assistance;

C 153 E/256

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

1.7.2003

(e) the

catalyst

action will not

lead to distortions of
competition in the
in particular
between modes of transport alternative to road transport
alone or within each mode, to an extent which damages
the common interest;

relevant markets,

(f) when the action requires reliance on services provided by
the applicant
third parties not part of
submits proof of a transparent, objective and non-discrimi-
natory procedure for selection of the relevant services.

the consortium,

In the framework of the objectives of the Commission
2.
White Paper ‘European transport policy for 2010:
time to
decide’, catalyst actions implementing new concepts, such as
that of ‘motorways of the seas’, deserve special attention.

Catalyst actions on the transport market should preferably use
the trans-European networks as defined in Decision No
1692/96/EC (1), or the pan-European transport corridors and
areas.

The results and methods of catalyst actions shall be
3.
disseminated in order to help achieve the objectives of this
Regulation.

the

eligible

shall be

for Community

action. Expenditure

4.
Community financial assistance for catalyst actions shall
be limited to a maximum of 35 % of the total expenditure
necessary to achieve the objectives of the action and incurred
as a result of the action, including preparatory measures. Such
financial
expenditure
assistance, to the the extent to which it relates directly to the
implementation of
ancillary
measures related to infrastructure works needed to achieve
the aims of the action shall also be eligible for Community
financial assistance, as long as it remains marginal, up to a
maximum of 35 %. Expenditure incurred on or after the date
of
the selection
procedure shall be eligible for Community financial assistance
provided that final approval for Community funding is given.
A contribution towards the costs of movable assets shall be
contingent on the obligation to use such assets for the duration
of the assistance, principally for the action, as defined by the
subsidy agreement.

the submission of an application under

for

5.
Community financial assistance for catalyst actions shall
be granted on the basis of subsidy agreements, with appro-
priate provisions for steering and monitoring. As a rule, the
maximum duration of these agreements shall be 50 months.

Community financial assistance shall not be renewable beyond
the stipulated maximum period of 50 months.

(1) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1. Decision as last amended by Decision No

1346/2001/EC (OJ L 185, 6.7.2001, p. 1).

The political priority targets which will be taken into
6.
consideration in the selection procedure for such actions
shall be established in accordance with the procedure referred
to in Article 12(2).

The Commission, assisted by the Committee set up under
Article 12(1), may review the political priority targets from
time to time.

The minimum indicative subsidy threshold per catalyst

7.
action shall be EUR 1,5 million.

Article 7

Common learning actions

1.
Common learning actions shall be eligible for funding
under the Programme provided that the following conditions
are satisfied:

(a) the action will

lead to the improvement of commercial
services in the market and lasts for a maximum of 24
months;

(b) the action is innovative on a European level;

(c)

the action will not lead to distortions of competition in the
relevant markets, in particular between modes of transport
alternative to road transport alone or within each mode, to
an extent which damages the common interest;

(d) the common learning action proposes a realistic plan
to
for

the specific stages by which it

setting out
achieve
its objectives
Commission steering assistance.

the need

identifies

seeks

and

2.
The results and methods of common learning actions
shall be disseminated in order to help achieve the objectives
of this Regulation.

3.
Community financial assistance for common learning
actions shall be limited to a maximum of 50 % of the total
expenditure necessary to achieve the objectives of the action
and incurred as a result of the action. Such expenditure shall be
eligible for Community financial assistance, to the extent to
which it relates directly to the implementation of the action.
Expenditure incurred on or after the date of the submission of
an application under the selection procedure shall be eligible
for Community financial assistance provided that final approval
for Community funding is given. A contribution towards the
costs of movable assets shall be contingent on the obligation to
use such assets for the duration of the assistance, principally
for the action, as defined by the subsidy agreement.

1.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 153 E/257

Community financial assistance for common learning
4.
actions shall be granted on the basis of subsidy agreements,
with appropriate provisions for steering and monitoring. As a
rule, the maximum duration of these agreements shall be 26
months.

Community financial assistance shall not be renewable beyond
the stipulated maximum period of 26 months.

5.
The political priority targets which will be taken into
consideration in the selection procedure for such actions
shall be established in accordance with the procedure referred
to in Article 12(2).

The Commission, assisted by the Committee set up under
Article 12(1), may review the political priority targets from
time to time.

The minimum indicative subsidy threshold per common

6.
learning action shall be EUR 250 000.

Article 8

Detailed rules

The Commission shall issue detailed rules for the procedure for
submission, selection, execution, dissemination and individual
reporting and verification requirements concerning actions
the Programme in accordance with the procedure
under
referred to in Article 12(2).

Article 9

State aid

Article 11

Selection of actions — Granting of financial assistance

Submitted actions shall be evaluated by the Commission. The
Commission shall decide whether to grant financial assistance
under this Regulation taking into account, for the selection of
the action,
the objective referred to in Article 1, and the
conditions referred to in Articles 5, 6 or 7, as appropriate.
The selection shall take into account the relative environmental
merits of
the proposed actions and their contribution to
reducing road congestion. This decision shall be taken in
accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 12(2).

The Commission shall inform the beneficiaries and the Member
States of its decision.

CHAPTER IV

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 12

Committee

1.

The Commission shall be assisted by a committee.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

3.

The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Community financial assistance for the actions defined by the
Programme shall not exclude those actions being granted State
aid at national, regional or local level, insofar as such aid is
compatible with the State-aid arrangements laid down in the
Treaty and within the limits established for each type of action
in Article 5(2), Article 6(4) and Article 7(3) respectively.

Article 13

Budget

The financial framework for the implementation of the Marco
Polo Programme,
the period 1 January 2003 to 31
for
December 2006, shall be EUR 75 million.

CHAPTER III

SUBMISSION AND SELECTION OF ACTIONS

Annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary
authority within the limits of the financial perspective.

Article 10

Submission of actions

Actions shall be submitted to the Commission according to the
detailed rules issued under Article 8. The submission shall
contain all the elements necessary to enable the Commission
to make its selection in accordance with Article 11.

Article 14

Reserve for accompanying measures
and Programme evaluation

Up to 5 % of the budget provided for in this Regulation shall
be set aside for accompanying measures and independent
evaluation of the implementation of Articles 5, 6 and 7.

C 153 E/258

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

1.7.2003

Article 15

Evaluation

The Commission shall

1.
least
the
once a year
Programme and give an update of the status of all actions
financed under the Programme.

inform the Committee at
execution of

concerning the

financial

Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions an evaluation report on the results of
the Marco
Polo Programme, having regard to its objective, and accom-
panied if necessary by a proposal for the amendment of this
Regulation.

Article 16

Entry into force

2.
By 31 December 2006 at the latest, the Commission shall
present to the European Parliament, the Council, the European

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that
of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at . . .

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

1.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 153 E/259

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

In the framework of the codecision procedure (art. 251/TEC), the Council reached, on 5 December
2002, a political agreement on the draft Regulation on the granting of Community financial assistance
to improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system (Marco Polo Programme) (1).
Following legal/linguistic revision, the Council adopted its common position on 25 April 2003.

In taking its position, the Council took account the opinion of the European Parliament in its first
reading on 25 September 2002 (2), as well as of the opinions of the Economic and Social Committee (3)
and of the Committee of Regions (4).

The objective of the regulation is to establish a financial instrument promoting a shift of road freight to
other modes of transport — short sea shipping, rail or inland waterway — in order to reduce
congestion on the road network and enhance intermodal transport, thereby improving the environ-
mental performance of the transport system.

In specific terms, the programme, which is based on the experience drawn from the PACT (Pilot
Actions for Combined Transport programme, 1997-2001) aims at shifting the expected growth in
road freight between now and 2010 (12 billion tonne-kilometres per year) to other modes of transport,
thereby maintaining the distribution of traffic between the various modes of transport at the 1998
level.

The Marco Polo programme proposes financing three types of action:

— modal

shift actions, which aim at shifting part of road traffic to other modes of

transport

immediately, by means of a start-up aid for new non-road freight services;

— catalyst actions, which concern innovative projects to offset the structural shortcomings of the

markets;

— common learning actions, which aim at strengthening co-operation and exchange of know-how
to improve the environmental

logistics market

in order

between operators on the freight
performance of the sector.

II. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

The Council shares Parliament's concerns regarding the increasing road congestion and in general the
environmental impact of the transport system. The Council therefore welcomes the objective of estab-
lishing a programme to promote intermodality by supporting commercial actions transferring freight
from the roads to short sea shipping, rail and inland waterway transport.

The Council attaches great importance to the European dimension of the programme. It therefore
supports the principle whereby the programme is open to all candidate countries and the EFTA and
EEA Member States and the possibility that it can involve the territory of a close third country, as
defined in the common position. Further highlighting this aspect, the common position underlines that
co-operation between undertakings established in different countries, in order to form a consortium
submitting a project for an action, should be encouraged.

(1) The Commission presented its proposal on 4 February 2002 (OJ C 126 E, 28.5.2002, p. 354).
(2) Doc. 12096/02 CODEC 1112 MAR 117 TRANS 230 ENV 490 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(3) OJ C 241, 7.10.2002, p. 37.
(4) OJ C 278, 14.11.2002, p. 15.

C 153 E/260

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

1.7.2003

The Council is of the opinion that the programme should be administrated with flexibility in order to
meet its objectives, and that the quality of the projects should be the primary criterion for the granting
of Community financial assistance. For this reason, it considers that the minimum thresholds should be
set at a level that does not exclude efficient projects at a smaller scale or projects presented by smaller
enterprises. Similarly, the common position allows for the minimum thresholds to be administrated
with a view to avoiding that an over-rigid definition of eligible actions discourages valuable projects or
excludes them from funding. In the same way, the Council believes that it should be possible to fund
the development of existing services, provided that this entails benefits which are equal to the starting
up of new services in terms of additional modal shift and environmental advantages. Furthermore, the
Council expects the actions eligible for funding to lead to effects that are substantial (in the case of
modal shift actions) and measurable (in the case of modal shift and catalyst actions).

As regards the overall financial framework for the programme, the Council deems it appropriate that
the budget period should not go beyond the 2002-2006 period considered by the general financial
perspectives. The proposed five-year budget period (2003-2007) has therefore been modified, and the
overall financial reference amount adapted consequently.

Concerning the basis for the calculation of the amount of financial assistance to be granted to modal
shift actions, the Council is of the view that there is no reason to refer explicitly to the notion of
savings of external costs, particularly since a commonly accepted method for internalising these costs is
not yet available. Instead, the common position refers to an indicative amount, initially set by the
Commission, of 1 EUR for each shift of 500 tonnes-kilometres of road freight. However, the Council
believes that adjustments to the indicative amount of financial assistance could in the future be
suggested on the basis of a regular evaluation of the development of external costs differentials and
possible future work on the methods to internalise external costs. Also,
in view of ensuring the
necessary flexibility in the administration of the programme, the common position emphasises that
this indicative amount could be adjusted in accordance with the quality and the environmental merits
of each project presented.

The Council agrees that the programme should be seen as a market-driven instrument and believes that
the granting of subsidies should not entail any risk of distortion of competition to an extent which
damages the common interest. Therefore, in addition to the general reference to the relevant markets,
the common position specifically states that there should be no distortion of competition between
alternative modes of transport to road transport or within each mode. The common position also
stipulates that the possible granting of State aid to actions receiving financial assistance under the
programme shall be compatible with the Community's general rules on State aid and lie within the
limits established for each category of action. Also, in case an action involves services provided by third
parties which do not form part of the consortium concerned, a provision has been introduced to
ensure that the applicant proves that the service provider has been selected through a transparent,
objective and non-discriminatory procedure.

The Council deems it appropriate to include ancillary infrastructure expenditure in the expenditure
eligible for financial assistance. However, in order to safeguard the programmes fundamental objectives,
the common position establishes that such expenditure must remain marginal and must be needed to
achieve the aims of the action.

Finally, as regards the procedures for the committee to assist the Commission in the administration of
the project, the Council is of the view that the variety of tasks to be carried out by the Committee
could best be performed in compliance with the management procedure laid down in the rules
concerning the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission.

III. AMENDMENTS

The Council shares the points of view expressed by the European Parliament in its first reading of the
proposal. As an expression of this agreement, the common position incorporates directly some of the
amendments proposed by Parliament, while on other points it reflects the substance of Parliament's
opinion.

1.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 153 E/261

— The Council shares Parliament's view that the promotion of intermodality should be explicitly
the programme and has introduced the wording
(4), Articles 1 and 2a). Similarly, a

mentioned as a fundamental objective of
suggested by Parliament in the common position (Recital
reference to the objective of reducing congestion has been introduced (Recital (4).

— Fully corresponding to Parliament's opinion, the Council has reduced the minimum indicative
subsidy thresholds for each of the three categories of actions to half of the amounts proposed
by the Commission. However, the Council does not consider it necessary to introduce a new,
particularly low minimum threshold for modal shift actions consisting in the expansion of
existing services; it believes that other amendments introduced by Council (in Recital (9), Articles
5.1 and 5.3) to ensure the necessary flexibility in the election of actions take duly account of
Parliament's concerns in this respect.

— The Council adheres to Parliament's view that the reimbursement of expenditure incurred as of the
date of the submission of an application for financial assistance under the programme should
depend on the final approval of Community funding for the projection question. The corresponding
modifications of the text, as they appear in Parliament's opinion, have been introduced in the
common position (Articles 5.2, 6.4 and 7.3).

— As regards the catalyst actions (Article 6.1.c), the common position reflects the Council's agreement
with Parliament that it is appropriate to spell out clearly that the programme also serves the
objective of reducing congestion on roads.

— Like Parliament, the Council is of the opinion that the programme should not lead to shifts from
one mode of transport alternative to road transport to another. This principle has been expressly
stated in the common position in the provisions concerning the three categories of actions (Articles
5.1.c, 6.1.e and 7.1.c).

— The Council believes that shifts from road transport to a combination of modes of transport should
be promoted also in the cases where road transport forms part of this combination. However, as
has been expressly emphasised throughout the text of the common position, road journeys should
be as short as possible (Recital (4), Articles 1, 2a, 5.1.a, 6.1.c).

— Finally, the Council shares Parliament's opinion that the evaluation procedures should also allow for
an effective monitoring of and optimal
follow-up to the implementation of the programme,
hereunder the execution of the budget. To this purpose, the common position includes an obli-
gation for the Commission to regularly inform the programme's management committee on the
financial execution of the programme and on the status of all financed projects (Article 14).

Additionally, the common position includes some smaller modifications and clarifications to the
Commission proposal in line with the principles outlined in Part II of this document. They concern,
among other issues, the formulation of the objective of the proposed regulation, the definitions, the
conditions regulating the granting of financial assistance, the priorities regarding the catalyst actions
and the dissemination of the results of the actions.