Proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE adapting certain directives in the field of transport policy, by reason of the accession of Croatia
Date: 2013-02-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Croatia, accession to the European Union, approximation of laws, common transport policy, directive (EU)

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 8.2.2013  
COM(2013) 57 final 

2013/0036 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

adapting certain directives in the field of transport policy, by reason of the accession of 
Croatia 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

The  proposal  for  a  Council  Directive  adapting  certain  directives  in  the  field  of 
transport policy is necessitated by the upcoming accession of the Republic of Croatia 
to the European Union. 

The  Treaty  concerning  the  accession  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia  to  the  European 
Union1 was signed by all Member States of the European Union and the Republic of 
Croatia at Brussels on 9 December 2011. 

Article  3  (3)  of  the  Treaty  of  Accession  provides  that  it  shall  enter  into  force  on  1 
July 2013 provided that all the instruments of ratification have been deposited before 
that date. 

Article  3(4)  of  the  Treaty  of  Accession  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia  enables  the 
institutions of the Union to adopt before accession measures referred to, inter alia, in 
Article  50  of  the  Act  concerning  the  conditions  of  accession  of  the  Republic  of 
Croatia2. These measures shall enter into force only subject to and on the date of the 
entry into force of the Treaty of Accession. 

Article  50  of  the  Act  of  Accession  provides  that  where  acts  of  the  institutions 
adopted  prior  to  accession  require  adaptation  by  reason  of  accession,  and  the 
necessary  adaptations  have  not  been  provided  for  in  this  Act  or  its  Annexes,  the 
Council  or  the  Commission  (if  the  original  acts  were  adopted  by  the  Commission) 
shall adopt the necessary acts.  

Point 2 of the Final Act3 refers to the political agreement on a set of adaptations to be 
adopted  by  the  institutions  which  was  reached  between  the  Member  States  and 
Croatia  in  the  context  of  the  approval  of  the  Treaty  of  Accession;  the  High 
Contracting  Parties  of  the  Treaty  of  Accession  invited  the  Council  and  the 
Commission to adopt these adaptations before accession in accordance with Article 
50 of the Act of Accession, completed and updated where necessary to take account 
of the evolution of the law of the Union. 

The  present  proposal  covers  all  Council  directives  as  well  as  European  Parliament 
and Council directives which require technical adaptation by reason of the accession 
of Croatia in the field of transport policy – corresponding to negotiation chapter 14. 

This  proposal  is  part  of  a  series  of  proposals  for  Council  directives  by  the 
Commission  to  the  Council  which  regroup  the  technical  adaptations  to  Council 
directives  as  well  as  European  Parliament  and  Council  directives  corresponding  to 
negotiation  chapters  into  separate  proposals  for  different  Council  directives.  This 
structure  is  designed  to  facilitate  the  transposition  of  the  directives  concerned  by 
Member States into their respective legal orders. The package of proposals for legal 

1 
2 
3 

OJ L 112, 24.4.2012, p. 10. 
OJ L 112, 24.4.2012, p. 21. 
OJ L 112, 24.4.2012, p. 95. 

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acts which the Commission has transmitted to the Council is composed of this series 
of  proposals  for  Council  directives  on  the  one  hand,  as  well  as  of  a  proposal  for  a 
single  Council  regulation  which  covers  the  relevant  European  Parliament  and 
Council  regulations  and  decisions  as  well  as  the  relevant  Council  regulations  and 
decisions on the other hand. This is in line with the approach which was taken in the 
past in view of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania4. 

It is foreseen that all the legal acts included in this package will be published in the 
Official Journal of the European Union at the same date. 

The present proposal and the other proposals included in this package will take into 
account  technical  adaptations  to  the  acquis  which  were  published  in  the  Official 
Journal  of  the  European  Union  until  1  September  2012.  The  reasons  for  this  are  to 
provide sufficient time for the legislative processes involved on the one hand, and for 
the  fulfilment  of  the  ensuing  transposition  and  notification  obligations  by  Member 
States as regards directives on the other hand. Adaptations which may be necessary 
to  the  acquis  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the  European  Union  after  1 
September  2012  will  be  foreseen  in  the  relevant  acts  themselves  or  done  at  a  later 
stage  through  the  appropriate  procedure.  In  addition,  the  Commission  intends  to 
informally provide a list of such legislation to Member States in early July 2013. 

2. 

RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND 
IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

As  this  proposal  is  of  a  purely  technical  nature  and  does  not  involve  any  political 
choices, consultations with interested parties or impact assessments would not have 
made sense. 

3. 

LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL 

The legal basis for this proposal is Article 50 of the Act concerning the conditions of 
accession of the Republic of Croatia. 

The  principles  of subsidiarity  and proportionality are fully respected. The action of 
the  Union  is  necessary  under  the  principle  of  subsidiarity  (Article  5  (3)  TEU) 
because  it  concerns  technical  adaptations  to  legal  acts  which  were  enacted  by  the 
Union.  The  proposal  respects  the  principle  of  proportionality  (Article  5  (4)  TEU) 
because it does not go beyond what is necessary to reach the objective pursued. 

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATION 

The proposal has no budgetary implications. 

4 

OJ L 363, 20.12.2006, p. 1. 

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2013/0036 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

adapting certain directives in the field of transport policy, by reason of the accession of 
Croatia 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, 

Having regard to the Treaty of Accession of the Republic of Croatia, and in particular Article 
3(4) thereof, 

Having regard to the Act of Accession of the Republic of Croatia, and in particular Article 50 
thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

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Pursuant to Article 50 of the Act of Accession, where acts of the institutions adopted 
prior  to  accession  require  adaptation  by  reason  of  accession,  and  the  necessary 
adaptations  have  not  been  provided  for  in  the  Act  of  Accession  or  its  Annexes,  the 
Council, acting by qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, shall, to this 
end, adopt the necessary acts, if the original act was not adopted by the Commission. 

The Final Act of the Conference which drew up the Treaty of Accession indicated that 
the High Contracting Parties had reached political agreement on a set of adaptations to 
acts  adopted  by  the  institutions  required  by  reason  of  accession  and  invited  the 
Council  and  the  Commission  to  adopt  these  adaptations  before  accession,  completed 
and updated where necessary to take account of the evolution of the law of the Union. 

Directives  91/440/EEC1,  91/672/EEC2,  92/106/EEC3,  1999/37/EC4,  1999/62/EC5, 
2003/59/EC6,  2006/87/EC7,  and  2006/126/EC8  should 
therefore  be  amended 
accordingly, 

OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, p. 25. 
OJ L 373, 31.12.1991, p. 29. 
OJ L 368, 17.12.1992, p. 38. 
OJ L 138, 1.6.1999, p. 57. 
OJ L 187, 20.7.1999, p. 42. 
OJ L 226, 10.9.2003, p. 4. 
OJ L 389, 30.12.2006, p. 1. 
OJ L 403, 30.12.2006, p. 18. 

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HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 

Article 1 

Directives  91/440/EEC,  91/672/EEC,  92/106/EEC,  1999/37/EC,  1999/62/EC,  2003/59/EC, 
2006/87/EC, and 2006/126/EC shall be amended as set out in the Annex. 

Article 2 

1. 

Member States shall adopt and publish, by the date of accession of the Republic of 
Croatia to the European Union at the latest, the laws, regulations and administrative 
this  Directive.  They  shall  forthwith 
provisions  necessary 
communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions. 

to  comply  with 

They  shall  apply  those  provisions  from  the  date  of  accession  of  the  Republic  of 
Croatia to the European Union. 

When  Member  States  adopt  those  provisions,  they  shall  contain  a  reference  to  this 
Directive  or  be  accompanied  by  such  a  reference  on  the  occasion  of  their  official 
publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made. 

2. 

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions 
of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. 

This Directive shall enter into force subject to, and as from the date of the entry into force of 
the Treaty of Accession of the Republic of Croatia. 

Article 3 

Article 4 

This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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TRANSPORT POLICY 

ANNEX 

A. 

1. 

ROAD TRANSPORT 

31992  L  0106:  Council  Directive  92/106/EEC  of  7  December  1992  on  the 
establishment  of  common  rules  for  certain  types  of  combined  transport  of  goods 
between Member States (OJ L 368, 17.12.1992, p. 38): 

In Article 6(3), the following is inserted after the entry for France: 

– 

'Croatia: 

godišnja  naknada  za  uporabu  javnih  cesta  koja  se  plaća  pri  registraciji  motornih  i 
priključnih vozila;' 

2. 

31999 L 0037:  Council  Directive  1999/37/EC  of  29 April 1999  on  the  registration 
documents for vehicles (OJ L 138, 1.6.1999, p. 57): 

(a) 

In Annex I, point II.4, in the second indent, the following is inserted after the 
entry for France: 

'HR:  Croatia'. 

(b) 

In  Annex I,  point  III.1.A  (b),  the  following  is  inserted  after  the  entry  for 
France: 

'HR  Croatia'. 

(c) 

In Annex II, point II.4, in the second indent, the following is inserted after the 
entry for France: 

'HR:  Croatia'. 

(d) 

In  Annex II,  point  III.1.A  (b),  the  following  is  inserted  after  the  entry  for 
France: 

'HR  Croatia'. 

3. 

31999 L 0062: Directive 1999/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of  17 June 1999  on  the  charging  of  heavy  goods  vehicles  for  the  use  of  certain 
infrastructures (OJ L 187, 20.7.1999, p. 42): 

In Article 3(1), the following is inserted after the entry for France: 

'- Croatia: 

godišnja naknada za uporabu javnih cesta koja se plaća pri registraciji motornih i 

priključnih vozila,'. 

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4. 

32003 L 0059: Directive 2003/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 15 July 2003 on the initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain 
road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers, amending Council Regulation 
(EEC)  No  3820/85  and  Council Directive  91/439/EEC  and  repealing  Council 
Directive 76/914/EEC (OJ L 226, 10.9.2003, p. 4): 

(a) 

In Annex II, point 2 (c), the following is inserted between the entries for France 
and Ireland: 

'HR:  Croatia'. 

(b) 

In Annex II, point 2 (e), the following is inserted after the entry in French: 

'kvalifikacijska kartica vozača' 

(c) 

In  Annex  II,  point  2,  below  the  words  'side  2  contains',  the  second 
subparagraph of point (b) is replaced by the following: 

'If  a  Member  State  wishes  to  word  these  entries  in  a  national  language  other 
than  one  of  the  following  languages:  Bulgarian,  Spanish,  Czech,  Danish, 
German,  Estonian,  Greek,  English,  French,  Croatian,  Italian,  Latvian, 
Lithuanian, Hungarian, Maltese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, 
Slovenian, Finnish and Swedish, it shall draw up a bilingual version of the card 
using  one  of  the  abovementioned  languages,  without  prejudice  to  the  other 
provisions of this Annex.' 

5. 

32006  L  0126:  Directive  2006/126/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 20 December 2006 on driving licences (OJ L 403, 30.12.2006, p. 18): 

(a) 

In Annex I, point 3, below the words 'Page 1 shall contain', point (c) is replaced 
by the following: 

'(c) the distinguishing sign of the Member State issuing the licence, printed in 
negative  in  a  blue  rectangle  and  encircled  by  twelve  yellow  stars;  the 
distinguishing signs shall be as follows: 

B: 

BG: 

CZ: 

DK: 

D: 

Belgium 

Bulgaria 

The Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Germany 

EST: 

Estonia 

GR: 

E: 

Greece 

Spain 

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F: 

HR: 

IRL: 

I: 

CY: 

LV: 

LT: 

L: 

H: 

M: 

NL: 

A: 

PL: 

P: 

RO: 

France 

Croatia 

Ireland 

Italy 

Cyprus 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Luxembourg 

Hungary 

Malta 

The Netherlands 

Austria 

Poland 

Portugal 

Romania 

SLO: 

Slovenia 

SK: 

FIN: 

S: 

UK: 

Slovakia 

Finland 

Sweden 

The United Kingdom 

(b) 

In Annex I, point 3, below the words 'Page 1 shall contain', point (e) is replaced 
by the following: 

'(e) the words "European Union model" in the language(s) of the Member State 
issuing the licence and the words "Driving Licence" in the other languages of 
the Union, printed in pink to form the background of the licence: 

Свидетелство за управление на МПС 

Permiso de Conducción 

Řidičský průkaz 

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Kørekort 

Führerschein 

Juhiluba 

Άδεια Οδήγησης 

Driving Licence 

Permis de conduire 

Vozačka dozvola  

Ceadúas Tiomána 

Patente di guida 

Vadītāja apliecība 

Vairuotojo pažymėjimas 

Vezetői engedély 

Liċenzja tas-Sewqan 

Rijbewijs 

Prawo Jazdy 

Carta de Condução 

Permis de conducere 

Vodičský preukaz 

Vozniško dovoljenje 

Ajokortti 

Körkort;'. 

(c) 

In  Annex  I,  point  3,  below  the  words  "Page  2  shall  contain",  the  second 
paragraph of point (b) is replaced by the following: 

'If a Member State wishes to make the entries in a national language other than 
one  of  the  following  languages:  Bulgarian,  Croatian,  Czech,  Danish,  Dutch, 
English,  Estonian,  Finnish,  French,  German,  Greek,  Hungarian,  Italian, 
Latvian,  Lithuanian,  Maltese,  Polish,  Portuguese,  Romanian,  Slovak, 
Slovenian,  Spanish  or  Swedish,  it  will  draw  up  a  bilingual  version  of  the 
licence  using  one  of  the  aforementioned  languages,  without  prejudice  to  the 
other provisions of this Annex.'. 

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B. 

TRANSPORT BY RAIL 

31991  L  0440:  Council  Directive  91/440/EEC  of  29  July  1991  on  the  development  of  the 
Community's railways (OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, p. 25): 

In Annex I, the following is inserted in the list of ports after the entry for France:  

'HRVATSKA 

Ploče  

Pula 

Rijeka 

Split 

Šibenik 

Zadar' 

C. 

1. 

TRANSPORT BY INLAND WATERWAY 

31991  L  0672:  Council  Directive  91/672/EEC  of  16  December  1991  on  the 
reciprocal  recognition of national boatmasters' certificates for the carriage of goods 
and passengers by inland waterway (OJ L 373, 31.12.1991, p. 29): 

In Annex I, under the heading 'GROUP B', the following is added: 

'Republic of Croatia: 

– 

Svjedodžba o stručnoj osposobljenosti/Befähigungszeugnis 

Zapovjednik - vrsta A/Schiffsführer – Klasse A 

(Certificate of professional qualification – Boatmaster type A) 

– 

Svjedodžba o stručnoj osposobljenosti/Befähigungszeugnis 

Zapovjednik - vrsta B/Schiffsführer – Klasse B  

(Certificate of professional qualification – Boatmaster type B) 

(in accordance with the Ordinance on the professional titles and qualifications 
of boatmen, Official Gazette No. 73/09)' 

2. 

32006 L 0087: Directive 2006/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of  12  December  2006  laying  down  technical  requirements  for  inland  waterway 
vessels and repealing Council Directive 82/714/EEC (OJ L 389, 30.12.2006, p. 1): 

(i) Annex I is amended as follows: 

(a) 

In Chapter 2, Zone 3, the following is inserted after the entry for France: 

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'Republic of Croatia 

Danube: from rkm 1295+500 to rkm 1433 

River Drava: from rkm 0 to rkm 198+600 

River Sava: from rkm 211 to rkm 594 

River Kupa: from rkm 0 to rkm 5+900 

River Una: from rkm 0 to rkm 15' 

(b) 

In Chapter 3, Zone 4, the following is inserted after the entry for France: 

'Republic of Croatia 

All other waterways not listed in Zone 3'. 

(ii) Annex IX is amended as follows: 

(a) 

In Part I, Chapter 4, Article 4.05, point 1, the following entry is inserted in the 
list: 

'25 = Croatia'. 

(b) 

In Part III, Chapter 1, Article 1.06, point 2, the following entry is inserted in 
the list: 

'25 = Croatia'. 

(c) 

in Part IV, Chapter 1, Article 1.06 , point 2, the following entry is inserted in 
the list: 

'25 = Croatia'. 

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