Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council Directive on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the trans-European road network
Date: 2004-03-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: common transport policy, road network, safety standard, trans-European network, transport safety, tunnel

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 05.03.2004 
COM(2004)164 final 

2002/0309 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty  

concerning the  

common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council 
Directive on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the trans-European road 
network  

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
2002/0309 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty  

concerning the  

common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council 
Directive on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the trans-European road 
network  

1- 

BACKGROUND  

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and the 
Council (document COM(2002) 769 final – 2002/0309(COD)): 

30 December 2002 

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee:  

18 June 2003 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading:  

9 October 2003 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal:  

Date of adoption of the common position:  

26 February 2004 

26 February 2004 

2- 

PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION'S PROPOSAL  

In  its  White  Paper  on  transport  policy,1  the  Commission  stresses  the  need  to  conceive  of  a 
European Directive on the harmonisation of minimum safety standards in order to guarantee a 
high  level  of  safety  for  the  users  of  tunnels,  particularly  those  forming  part  of  the  trans-
European transport network.  

To  that  end  the  Commission  has  presented  this  proposal  for  a  Directive,  which  is  aimed  at 
imposing  organisational  and  technical  requirements  for  tunnels  more  than  500 metres  in 
length located on the trans-European road network. 

1 

Commission White Paper of 12 September 2001: “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide”, 
COM(2001)370 final. 

2 

 
 
  
 
 
 
                                                 
3- 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION  

The common position includes the amendments proposed by the Commission in its amended 
proposal of 26 February 2004, which seeks to incorporate most of the amendments adopted by 
the European Parliament at first reading. 

It differs from the amended proposal in the following major respects: 

–  The  initial  proposal  provided  for  a  schedule  for  the  refurbishment  of  existing  tunnels, 
requiring  10%  of  tunnels  to  be  made  compliant  within  3 years,  50%  within  6 years  and 
100%  within  10 years.  The  common  position  does  not  restate  the  interim  deadlines,  but 
leaves them to the discretion of the Member States. Instead, a clause has been inserted in 
the  new  Article 15  “Reporting”  stipulating  that,  30 months  after  the  Directive  enters  into 
force, Member States should forward a schedule for the refurbishment of existing tunnels 
to  the  Commission.  In  addition,  every  two  years,  they  are  to  give  the  Commission  a 
progress  report  on  fulfilment  of  the  schedule.  This  approach  is  acceptable  to  the 
Commission,  which  will  monitor  the  situation  to  ensure  that  the  proposed  plans  are 
realistic and properly staggered over the whole ten-year period.  

–  The  common  position  proposes  introducing  a  streamlined  committee  procedure  under 
Article 14 to authorise Member States to grant, on the basis of a duly documented request, 
a  derogation  from  the  terms  of  the  Directive  for  the  implementation  of  a  technical 
innovation providing an equivalent or higher protection level. The streamlined procedure, 
aimed at making it easier to examine any derogations, is acceptable insofar as it is applied 
only if no comments are submitted by either the Commission or a Member State.  

–  The common position introduces a new Article 15 on “Reporting”, which incorporates the 
obligation  for  Member  States  to  report  regularly  on  the  implementation  of  the  Directive 
and its effectiveness in the event of any accidents occurring in the course of the year. The 
new Article is acceptable.  

4- 

CONCLUSIONS 

The Commission considers that the common position adopted unanimously by the Council on 
26 February  2004  is  faithful  to  the  aims  and  spirit  of  the  Commission’s  proposal.  The 
Commission can therefore approve the common position. 

The common position includes, either in letter or spirit, many of the amendments adopted by 
the  European  Parliament  at  first  reading.  There  is  consequently  a  high  level  of  agreement 
between the Council, Parliament and the Commission on the key aspects of the proposal.  

Accordingly,  the  Commission  invites  the  European  Parliament  to  approve  the  common 
position.  The  engineering  work  required  to  bring  tunnels  into  compliance  with  the  future 
Directive will take a long time and it is important for this work to begin as soon as possible. 

3