2005/777/EC: Commission Decision of 13 October 2005 amending Decision 2005/180/EC on authorising Member States to adopt certain derogations pursuant to Council Directive 96/49/EC with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail (notified under document number C(2005) 3555)   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2005-10-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: United Kingdom, derogation from EU law, rail transport, transport of dangerous goods, transport regulations

9.11.2005

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 293/23

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 13 October 2005

amending Decision 2005/180/EC on authorising Member States to adopt certain derogations
pursuant to Council Directive 96/49/EC with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail

(notified under document number C(2005) 3555)

(Only the English text is authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2005/777/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(3)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Directive 96/49/EC of 23 July 1996
on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with
regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail (1), and in
particular Article 6(9) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Pursuant to Article 6(9) of Directive 96/49/EC, Member
States must give the Commission advance notification of
time by 31 December
their derogations,
2002 or up to two years after the last date of application
of the amended versions of the Annex to the Directive.

for the first

Commission Directive 2003/29/EC (2)
amended the
Annex to Directive 96/49/EC. Under
the terms of
Directive 2003/29/EC Member States had to bring into
force national legislation no later than 1 July 2003, the
last date of application referred to in Article 6(9) of
Directive 96/49/EC being 30 June 2003.

Certain Member States had notified the Commission by
31 December 2003 of their wish to adopt derogations
from Directive 96/49/EC. By Commission Decision
2005/180/EC of 4 March 2005 authorising Member
States to adopt certain derogations pursuant to Council
Directive 96/49/EC with regard to the transport of
dangerous goods by rail (3), the Commission authorised
the adoption by those Member States of the derogations
listed in Annexes I and II to that Decision.

Commission Directive 2004/89/EC (4) again amended the
Annex to Directive 96/49/EC. Under
the terms of
Directive 2004/89/EC Member States had to bring into
force national legislation at the latest by 1 October 2004,
the last date of application referred to in Article 6(9) of
Directive 96/49/EC being 30 September 2004.

in Annex I

The United Kingdom notified the Commission by 31
December 2004 of its wish to amend its existing dero-
to Decision 2005/180/EC. The
gations
Commission
for
compliance with the conditions laid down in Article
6(9) of Directive 96/49/EC and has approved them.
That Member State should therefore be authorised to
adopt the derogations in question.

notifications

examined

has

the

(4)

(5)

(6)

It is therefore necessary to amend Annex I to Decision
2005/180/EC.

(1) OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 25. Directive as

last amended by
Commission Directive 2004/110/EC (OJ L 365, 10.12.2004, p. 24).

(2) OJ L 90, 8.4.2003, p. 47.

(3) OJ L 61, 8.3.2005, p. 41.
(4) OJ L 293, 16.9.2004, p. 14.

L 293/24

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Official Journal of the European Union

9.11.2005

(7)

in this Decision are in
The measures provided for
accordance with the opinion of the Committee on the
transport of dangerous goods, set up under Article 9 of
Council Directive 94/55/EC (1),

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland.

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Done at Brussels, 13 October 2005.

Decision 2005/180/EC is hereby amended as follows:

Annex I shall be amended by the derogations listed in the
Annex to this Decision.

For the Commission

Jacques BARROT
Vice-President

(1) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 7. Directive as

last amended by
Commission Directive 2004/111/EC (OJ L 365, 10.12.2004, p. 25).

9.11.2005

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 293/25

ANNEX

Derogations for Member States on small quantities of certain dangerous goods

THE UNITED KINGDOM

RA-SQ 15.2 (amended)

Subject: Movement of nominally empty fixed tanks not intended as transport equipment (N2).

Reference to the Annex to the Directive: Parts 5 and 7.

Content of the Annex to the Directive: Requirements concerning consignment procedures, carriage, operation and vehicles.

Reference to the national
Regulations 2004: Regulation 5(14).

legislation: The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment

Content of the national legislation:

Comments: Movement of such fixed tanks is not carriage of dangerous goods in the normal sense, and RID provisions
cannot in practice be applied. As the tanks are ‘nominally empty’, the amount of dangerous goods actually contained in
them is by definition extremely small.

RA-SQ 15.4 (amended)
Subject: To allow different ‘maximum total quantity per transport unit’ for Class 1 goods in Categories 1 and 2 of table
in 1.1.3.1.

Reference to the Annex to the Directive: 1.1.3.1.

Content of the Annex to the Directive: Exemptions related to the nature of the transport operation.

Reference to the national
Regulations 2004: Regulation 3(7)(b).

legislation: The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment

Content of the national legislation: To lay down rules regarding exemptions for limited quantities and mixed loading of
explosives.

Comments: To allow different limited quantity limits and mixed loading multiplication factors for Class 1 goods, namely
‘50’ for Category 1 and ‘500’ for Category 2. For the purpose of calculating mixed loads, the multiplication factors are to
read ‘20’ for Transport Category 1 and ‘2’ for Transport Category 2.

RA-SQ 15.5 (amended)

Subject: Adoption of RA-SQ 6.6.

Reference to the Annex to the Directive: 5.3.1.3.2.

Content of the Annex to the Directive: Relaxation of placarding requirement for piggyback carriage.

Reference to the national
Regulations 2004: Regulation 7(12).

legislation: The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment

Content of the national legislation: The placarding requirement does not apply in cases where the vehicle placards are clearly
visible.

Comments: This has always been a UK national provision.