Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport (codified version) COM(2006) 432 final — 2006/0146 (COD)
Date: 2006-10-26
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: codification of EU law, customs inspection, customs regulations, inland waterway transport, internal border of the EU, road transport

30.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 324/47

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers
of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport (codified version)

COM(2006) 432 final — 2006/0146 (COD)

(2006/C 324/20)

On 27 September 2006, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 71 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

On 12 September 2006, the Committee Bureau instructed the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure
and the Information Society to prepare the Committee's work on the subject.

Given the urgent nature of the work, the European Economic and Social Committee appointed Mr Simons
as rapporteur-general at its 430th plenary session (meeting of 26 October 2006), and adopted the following
opinion by 133 votes in favour, with three abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

2. Introduction

The Committee agrees with the European Council presi-
1.1
dency on the importance of codification, as this offers certainty
as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time and
helps make Community law more transparent and accessible for
the European public.

2.1
The sheer volume of Community law with which Europe
has to deal and the frequent amendments to existing legislation
mean that the information is scattered, making it difficult for
the public to keep track.

1.2
The purpose of the present proposal is to codify Council
Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 of 21 December 1989, as
amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3356/91, on the elimination
of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the
field of road and inland waterway transport. The Committee
feels that consideration should be given to how far this codifica-
tion exercise should also include legislation relating to other
transport modes, such as rail, intermodal transport, short sea
shipping and air transport.

1.3
The Committee welcomes the proposed codified version,
provided that the content of the acts being codified is preserved
and that any changes do no more than bring those acts together,
with only such formal amendments as are required by the codi-
fication exercise itself.

Given how important it is for the European public to
1.4
have
the
access
Committee would urge the Commission to consider whether,
and to what extent, other legislation might also be codified.

to transparent Community

legislation,

1.5 Member States should coordinate the checks, verifica-
tions and inspections that are performed. Failing that, Member
States should at least share the findings so as to allow transport
to flow freely and to avoid fresh inspections or checks being
carried out by each individual country. With RIS (River Informa-
tion Services) in place, this should pose no problem at all for
inland waterway transport.

The European Commission evinces great

2.2
in
making Community law simpler and clearer, and thus more
accessible to the public.

interest

2.3
For that reason, the Commission has instructed its staff
that all legislative acts should be codified after no more than ten
amendments.

2.4
The presidency conclusions of the December 1992 Euro-
pean Council in Edinburgh underscored the importance of codi-
fication as this offers certainty as to the law applicable to a
given matter at a given time, and thus also helps boost transpar-
ency.

involve any substantive
2.5
Since codification may not
changes to the acts in question,
the European Parliament,
Council and Commission decided in the interinstitutional agree-
ment of 20 December 1994 that an accelerated procedure may
be used in this case.

2.6
The present proposal seeks to codify Council Regulation
(EEC) No 4060/89 of 21 December 1989 on the elimination of
controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field
of road and inland waterway transport. The new regulation
brings together Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 and the various
amendments to it.

2.7
The Commission proposal preserves the content of the
amendments, and does no more than bring them together, with
only such formal amendments as are required by the codifica-
tion exercise itself.

C 324/48

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

30.12.2006

3. General comments

The Committee notes that

3.1
the present Commission
proposal seeks to codify only Council Regulation (EEC) No
4060/89 on the elimination of controls performed at the fron-
tiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway
transport, but does not cover other transport modes such as
rail, intermodal transport, short sea shipping and air transport,
for which border controls continue to apply. The Committee
feels that these other transport modes should be taken into
consideration as well.

The Committee would stress that Regulation (EEC) No
3.2
4060/89 and the codification proposal
seek to eliminate
systematic controls at the frontiers of Member States. As Article
3 of the proposed regulation makes clear, checks may still be
made as part of the normal control procedures applied in a
non-discriminatory fashion throughout
territory of a
Member State.

the

Brussels, 26 October 2006.

The Committee welcomes the Commission's codification
3.3
proposal. The more transparent European legislation is for the
public the better. The Committee would therefore urge the
Commission to consider whether, and to what extent, other
legislation might also be codified.

3.4
Recital 4 of the proposal states that, under existing Com-
munity legislation, Member States are free to organise and
perform checks, verifications and inspections where they so
wish. They should, however, coordinate these activities, or,
failing that, at least share the findings so as to allow transport
to flow freely and to avoid fresh inspections or checks being
carried out by each individual country. With RIS (River Informa-
tion Services) in place, this should pose no problem for inland
waterway transport.

4. Specific comments

None.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS