Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a procedure for prior examination and consultation in respect of certain laws, regulations and administrative provisions concerning transport proposed in Member States (Codified version)
Date: 2006-06-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: common transport policy, consultation procedure, inland waterway transport, rail transport, road transport

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 9.6.2006 
COM(2006) 284 final 

2006/0099 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on a procedure for prior examination and consultation in respect of certain laws, 
regulations and administrative provisions concerning transport proposed in Member 
States 

(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. 

The  purpose  of  this  proposal  is  to  undertake  a  codification  of  Council  Decision  of 
21 March  1962  instituting  a  procedure  for  prior  examination  and  consultation  in 
respect  of  certain  laws,  regulations  and  administrative  provisions  concerning 
transport proposed in Member States3. 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(87) 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. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

1 
2 
3 

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5. 

The codification proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation, 
in  all  official  languages,  of  Council  Decision  of  21  March  1962  instituting  a 
procedure  for  prior  examination  and  consultation  in  respect  of  certain  laws, 
regulations and administrative provisions concerning transport proposed in Member 
States  and  the  instrument  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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(cid:208) 62/403/EEC (adapted) 

2006/0099 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

⌦ on ⌫ a procedure for prior examination and consultation in respect of certain laws, 
regulations and administrative provisions concerning transport proposed in Member 
States 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular 
Article ⌦ 71 ⌫ 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 Regions6, 

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

Whereas: 

(cid:208)  

Council Decision of 21 March 1962 instituting a procedure for prior examination and 
consultation  in  respect  of  certain  laws,  regulations  and  administrative  provisions 
concerning transport proposed in Member States8 has been substantially amended9. In 
the interests of clarity and rationality the said Decision should be codified. 

(cid:208) 62/403/EEC Recital 1 (adapted) 

The  attainment  of  the  objectives  of  the  Treaty  within  the  framework  of  a  common 
transport  policy  requires  that  a  procedure  for  prior  examination  and  consultation  be 
⌦ maintained ⌫  in  respect  of  certain  measures  concerning  transport  proposed  in 
Member States. 

OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ C […], […], p. […] 
OJ of 3.4.1962, p. 720/62. 
See Annex I. 

(1) 

(2) 

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(3) 

Such a procedure will help to promote close co-operation between Member States and 
the  Commission  in  the  attainment  of  the  objectives  of  the  Treaty  and  will  help  to 
prevent the transport policies of Member States from diverging. 

(cid:208) 62/403/EEC Recital 2 

(4) 

Such  a  procedure  also  serves  to  facilitate  the  progressive  adoption  of  the  common 
transport policy, 

(cid:208) 62/403/EEC Recital 3 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

(cid:208) 62/403/EEC 

Article 1 

Any  Member  State  proposing  to  adopt  any  laws,  regulations  or  administrative  provisions 
concerning transport by rail, road or inland waterway liable to interfere substantially with the 
implementation of the common transport policy shall, in good time and in writing, notify the 
Commission of such measures and at the same time inform the other Member States. 

(cid:208) 73/402/EEC Art. 1 

Article 2 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

Within  two  months  of  receipt  of  the  notification  referred  to  in  Article  1,  the 
Commission  shall  address  an  opinion  or  a  recommendation  to  the  Member  State 
concerned; it shall at the same time inform the other Member States thereof. 

Any Member State may submit to the Commission its observations on the measures 
in question; it shall at the same time communicate them to the other Member States. 

If  a  Member  State  so  requests,  or  if  the  Commission  considers  it  appropriate,  the 
Commission shall consult all the Member States on the measures in question. In the 
case specified in paragraph 4 such consultation may take place after the event within 
two months. 

The  Commission  may,  at  the  request  of  the  Member  State,  shorten  the  period  laid 
down in paragraph 1, or if that State so agrees, extend it. The period shall be reduced 
to fifteen days if the Member State declares that the measures it proposes to take are 
of  an  urgent  nature.  The  Commission  shall  inform  the  Member  States  of  any  such 
reduction or extension of the period. 

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5. 

The  Member  State  shall  not  bring  the  measures  in  question  into  force  until  after 
expiry of the period provided for either in paragraph 1 or in paragraph 4, or after the 
Commission  has  formulated  its  opinion  or  recommendation,  except  in  a  case  of 
extreme urgency, requiring immediate action by the Member State. In such case, the 
Member State shall at once inform the Commission and the procedure laid down in 
this  Article  shall  be  followed  after  the  event  within  two  months  of  receipt  of  such 
information. 

(cid:208)  

Article 3 

Council  Decision  of  21  March  1962  instituting  a  procedure  for  prior  examination  and 
consultation in respect of certain laws, regulations and administrative provisions concerning 
transport proposed in Member States 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. 

(cid:208) 62/403/EEC Art. 3 

Article 4 

This Decision is addressed to the Member States. 

Done at Brussels, […] 

For the European Parliament 
The President 
[…] 

For the Council 
The President 
[…] 

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(cid:207) 

ANNEX I 

Repealed Decision with its amendment 

Council Decision of 21 March 1962 instituting a 
procedure for prior examination and consultation 
in  respect  of  certain  laws,  regulations  and 
administrative  provisions  concerning  transport 
proposed in Member States 

(OJ of 3.4.1962, p. 720/62) 

Decision 73/402/EEC 

(OJ L 347, 17.12.1973, p. 48) 

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ANNEX II 

CORRELATION TABLE 

Council  Decision  of  21  March  1962 
instituting  a  procedure  for  prior  examination 
and  consultation  in  respect  of  certain  laws, 
regulations  and  administrative  provisions 
concerning  transport  proposed  in  Member 
States 

This Decision 

Articles 1 and 2 

Articles 1 and 2 

- 

Article 3 

- 

- 

Article 3 

Article 4 

Annex I  

Annex II 

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