Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the activities of certain third countries in the field of cargo shipping (Codified version)
Date: 2003-11-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: codification of EU law, exchange of information, information system, international waters, maritime transport, merchant fleet, third country

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 27.11.2003
COM(2003) 732 final

2003/0285 (COD)

.

Proposal for a

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

concerning the activities of certain third countries in the field of cargo shipping

(Codified version)

(presented by the Commission)

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

In  the  context  of  a  people’s  Europe,  the  Commission  attaches  great  importance  to
simplifying  and  clarifying  Community  law  so  as  to  make  it  clearer  and  more
accessible to the ordinary citizen, thus giving him new opportunities and the chance
to make use of the specific rights it gives him.

This aim cannot be achieved so long as numerous provisions that have been amended
several times, often quite substantially, remain scattered, so that they must be sought
partly  in  the  original  instrument  and  partly  in  later  amending  ones.  Considerable
research work, comparing many different instruments, is thus needed to identify the
current rules.

For  this  reason  a  codification  of  rules  that  have  frequently  been  amended  is  also
essential if Community law is to be clear and transparent.

On  1  April  1987  the  Commission  therefore  decided1  to  instruct  its  staff  that  all
legislative acts should be codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing that
this  is  a minimum requirement and that  departments  should  endeavour  to  codify  at
even  shorter  intervals  the  texts  for  which  they  are  responsible,  to  ensure  that  the
Community rules are clear and readily understandable.

The  Conclusions  of 
the  Edinburgh  European  Council
(December 1992) confirmed this2, stressing the importance of codification as it offers
certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time.

the  Presidency  of 

Codification  must  be  undertaken  in  full  compliance  with  the  normal  Community
legislative procedure.

Given  that  no  changes  of  substance  may  be  made  to  the  instruments  affected  by
codification, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed,
by  an  interinstitutional  agreement  dated  20  December  1994,  that  an  accelerated
procedure may be used for the fast-track adoption of codification instruments.

is 

this  proposal 

to  undertake  a  codification  of  Council
The  purpose  of 
Decision 78/774/EEC of 19 September 1978 concerning the activities of certain third
countries  in  the  field  of  cargo  shipping3.  The  new  Decision  will  supersede  the
various acts incorporated in it4; this proposal fully preserves the content of the acts
being  codified  and  hence  does  no  more  than  bring  them  together  with  only  such
formal amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself.

COM(1987) 868 PV.
See Annex 3 to Part A of the Conclusions.
Carried out pursuant to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the
Council – Codification of the Acquis communautaire, COM(2001) 645 final.
See Annex I to this proposal.

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5.

The codification proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation,
in all  official languages,  of  Decision  78/774/EEC  and  the  instruments  amending  it,
carried out by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, by
means  of  a  data-processing  system.  Where  the  Articles  have  been  given  new
numbers, the correlation between the old and the new numbers is shown in a table set
out in Annex II to the codified Decision.

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2003/0285 (COD)

(cid:1) 78/774/EEC (adapted)

Proposal for a

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

concerning the activities of certain third countries in the field of cargo shipping

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular
Article (cid:2) 80 (cid:3) (2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee5,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions6,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty7,

Whereas:

(1) 

Council  Decision  78/774/EEC  of  19  September  1978  concerning  the  activities  of
certain third countries in the field of cargo shipping8 has been substantially amended9.
In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Decision should be codified.

(cid:1) 

(cid:1) 78/774/EEC Recital (1)

(2) 

Information systems should be established to enable the Community institutions to be
kept  informed  of  the  activities  of  the  fleets  of  third  countries  whose  practices  are
harmful  to  the  shipping  interests  of  the  Member  States  and  in  particular  in  so  far  as
these activities adversely affect the competitive participation of the fleets of Member
States  in  international  maritime  trade.  These  information  systems  must  facilitate
consultation at Community level.

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OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ L 258, 21.9.1978, p. 35. Decision as amended by Decision 89/242/EEC (OJ L 97, 11.4.1989, p. 47).
See Annex I.

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(3) 

The  possibility  should  be  provided  for  the  necessary  measures  to  be  adopted  at
Community  level  for  the  joint  exercise  by  Member  States  of  their  powers  to  adopt
counter-measures in respect of the cargo shipping activities of certain third countries,

(cid:1) 78/774/EEC Recital (2)
(adapted)

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

(cid:1) 78/774/EEC (adapted)

Each Member State shall take all the necessary measures to institute a system allowing it to
collect  information  on  the  activities  of  the  fleets  of  third  countries  whose  practices  are
harmful  to  the  shipping  interests  of  the  Member  States  and  in  particular  in  so  far  as  these
activities  adversely  affect  the  competitive  participation  of  the  fleets  of  Member  States  in
international maritime trade.

This system must enable each Member State, to the extent necessary to attain the objectives
referred to in (cid:2) the first (cid:3) paragraph, to collect information on:

(cid:2) (a) (cid:3) the level of cargo shipping services offered (cid:2) ; (cid:3)

(cid:2) (b) (cid:3) the nature, volume, value, origin and destination of goods loaded or unloaded

in the Member States concerned by the ships engaged in these services(cid:2) ; (cid:3) and

(cid:2) (c) (cid:3) the level of tariffs charged for such services.

(cid:1) 78/774/EEC

Article 2

1.

2.

The Council, acting by qualified majority, shall decide to which third countries' fleets
the information system shall be jointly applied.

(cid:1) 89/242/EEC Art. 1

(cid:1) 78/774/EEC (adapted)

The Decision referred to in paragraph 1 shall  specify the type  of  cargo  shipping  to
which the information system is to apply, the date of its introduction, the intervals at
which the information is to be provided and which of the types of information listed
(cid:2) in the second paragraph of (cid:3) Article 1 are to be collected.

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Each Member State shall forward to the Commission, periodically or at the request
of the latter, the information produced by its information system.

The  Commission  shall  collate  the  information  for  the  Community  as  a  whole.
Article 4 of Council Decision 77/587/EEC10 shall apply to that information.

Article 3

The Member States and the Commission shall examine regularly, within the framework of the
consultation procedure established by Decision 77/587/EEC and on the basis inter alia of the
information produced by the information system referred to in Article 1, the activities of the
fleets of the third countries specified in the Decisions referred to in Article 2 (cid:2) (1) (cid:3).

Article 4

The Council, acting unanimously, may decide on the joint application by Member States, in
their  relations  with  a  third  country  or  group  of  third  countries  regarding  which  a  Decision
referred to in Article 2 (cid:2) (1) (cid:3) has been adopted, of appropriate counter-measures forming
part of their national legislation.

(cid:1) 78/774/EEC

Article 5

The  Member  States  shall  retain  the  right  to  apply  unilaterally  their  national  information
systems and counter-measures.

(cid:1) 

Article 6

Decision 78/774/EEC is repealed.

References to the repealed Decision shall be construed as references to this Decision and shall
be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex II.

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OJ L 239, 17.9.1977, p. 23.

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(cid:1) 78/774/EEC

Article 7

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, […]

For the Parliament
The President
[…]

For the Council
The President
[…]

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(cid:4)

ANNEX I

Repealed Decision with its amendment

Council Decision 78/774/EEC

(OJ L 258, 21.9.1978, p. 35)

Council Decision 89/242/EEC

(OJ L 97, 11.4.1989, p. 47)

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ANNEX II

CORRELATION TABLE

Decision 78/774/EEC

This Decision

Article 1(1)

Article 1, first paragraph

Article 1(2), introductory phrase

Article  1,  second  paragraph,  introductory
phrase

Article 1(2), first indent

Article 1, second paragraph, point (a)

Article 1(2), second indent

Article 1, second paragraph, point (b)

Article 1(2), third indent

Article 1, second paragraph, point (c)

Articles 2 – 5

Articles 2 – 5

Article 6

—

Article 7

—

—

—

Article 6

Article 7

Annex I

Annex II

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