CELEX: 31971D0300
Language: en
Date: 1971-07-28 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 28 July 1971 on a dispute between France and Belgium on the fixing of tariff rates for the carriage of goods by road between the two countries in implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1174/68 of 30 July 1968

28                                Official Journal of the European Communities
  No L 182/ 14                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                 12.8.71
                                              COMMISSION DECISION
                                                     of 28 July 1971
                on a dispute between France and Belgium on the fixing of tariff rates for the carriage
                of goods by road between the two countries in implementation of Council Regulation
                                          (EEC) No 1174/68 of 30 July 1968
                                    (Only the Dutch and French texts are authentic)
                                                      (71 /300/EEC)
 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                 rates to be in line with Article 3 of Regulation (EEC)
 COMMUNITIES,                                                   No 1174/68 the rates for the basic tonnage condition
                                                                of 20 metric tons should be reduced by 15 % bet­
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­             ween 51 and 100 km, by 22 % for 200 km, by 8 %
 pean Economic Community;                                       for 500 km, by 15 % for 800 km and 29 % for 1 200
                                                                km, and the rates for other tonnage conditions should
 Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No                   be the 20 metric tons rate plus 13-5 % for the 15
                                                                metric tons condition, 40 % for the 10 metric tons
 1174/681 of 30 July 1968 on the introduction of a
                                                                condition, 67 % for the 7 metric tons condition and
 system of bracket tariffs for the carriage of goods by
                                                                95-5 % for the 5 metric tons condition;
 road between Member States, and in particular Ar­
 ticles 2 to 4 thereof;
                                                                Whereas Belgium is of the opinion that, ih this con­
 Whereas France, by letter of 24 May 1971 from the              nection, transport conditions between Belgium and
 Office of its Permanent Representative, referred to            France are comparable to those between Belgium and
the Commission, pursuant to Article 4 (2) (b) of                Germany and that the Belgium/France rates should
Regulation (EEC) No 1174/68, the dispute which                  be aligned on the proposed Belgium/Germany tariff
has arisen between that country and Belgium on cer­             rates which, in particular, allow the greater degres­
tain aspects of the tariff in respect of road ' transport       sivity for long distances requested by Belgium to meet
between France and Belgium ;                                    competition from the railways;
Whereas, at the meeting with the representatives of             Whereas France, for its part, considers that the rates
the Commisssion on - 21 June 1971 , the representa­             proposed by the carriers are too high, that the dif­
tives of the two Member States notified the Commis­             ferentiation of the rates by tariff classes is excessive
                                                                and that for the rates to be in line with Article 3 of
sion, in accordance with Article 4 (2) (a) of the
said Regulation, of their agreement on all aspects of           Regulation (EEC) No 1174/68 they should be re­
that tariff which are not the subject of the dispute            duced by 25 % for distances up to 125 km, by a
which has been referred to the Commission;                      percentage decreasing- gradually from 25 to 8 % for
                                                                distances of from 126 to 200 km and by 8 % for
                                                                distances of 201 km and over and that the rates for
Whereas the dispute relates to the general level of             tariff class I should be fixed at 110 % and those of
the tariff rates and to the differentiation of the rates        tariff class IV at 85 % of the rates for tariff class II ;
by tariff classes of goods and by tonnage conditions ;
                                                                Whereas France is of the opinion that, in this connec­
Whereas Belgium considers that the rates proposed               tion, the cost increases, on which the carriers based
jointly by French and Belgian carriers, in the pro­             their 1970 proposal, exceed for French carriers, when
posal published in the Journal Officiel de la Repub­            compared with a tariff proposed by the latter in 1967,
lique frangaise of 25 November 1970, do not altogether          the cost increases which have actually occured since
correspond to the costs of Belgian carriers nor, in cer­        then; whereas the, return on which the carriers base
tain cases , to the market situation and that for these         their calculations is excessive having regard to the
                                                                concept of 'fair return' within the meaning of the
1 OJ No L 194, 6.8. 1968, p. 1 .                                second subparagraph of Article 3 ( 1 ) of the said
 ---pagebreak---                                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      29
  Regulation; whereas the carriers' cost calculations do       Whereas the rate differentials for tonnage conditions
 not take account of the need for only one driver for          other than 20 metric tons should take account, in
 short hauls and whereas the differentiation of rates          particular, of the actual conditions of carriage of
 by tariff classes appears to exaggerate the differential      consignments in the different categories of vehicles ;
 cost of transport;
                                                               After consulting the Committee of Experts set up by
 Whereas, pursuant to Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation           Article 11 of Regulation (EEC) No 1174/68,
  (EEC) No 1174/68 'each tariff shall be drawn up by
 reference to a base-rate, which shall be the middle
 point of the bracket', the bracket spread being 23 %          HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION;
 of the maximum rate; whereas 'the base-rate shall be
 fixed having regard both to the average cost of the                                   Article 1
 transport operation concerned, including the general
                                                               For consignments in the 20 metric tons condition of
 expenses of the business, for a properly managed
 undertaking enjoying normal conditions of use of its         goods falling within tariff class II the upper limit of
                                                              the bracket tariff for transport between France and
 carrying capacity, and to market conditions, and shall
                                                               Belgium shall be that set out in the proposal by the
 be such as to provide a fair return for carriers';           French and Belgian carriers published in the Journal
 whereas 'tariffs may vary according to the circum­
                                                               Officiel de la Republique frangaise of 25 November
 stances of the service provided, and in particular ac­        1970, less :
 cording to the technical and economic characteristics
 of the operation in question, the route concerned, the       - 15 % for distances of 51 to 55 km;
 length of the transit period, the tonnage conditions,
 and the type of goods carried';                              - 15 % for distances of 121 to 130 km :
                                                              - 6-75 % for distances of 291 to 300 km;
 Whereas, as regards the level of the rates,
                                                              - 4-5 % for distances of 441 to 460 km;
 - in fixing the base-rates of the tariffs account must
    be taken of the average cost of the corresponding         - 9 % for distances of 781 to 800 km;
    transport operation effected by French and Belgian        - 10 % for distances of 1 151 to 1 200 km and over.
    carriers ;
 - the percentage increase since 1967, mentioned by           For distances between those shown in the first sub­
    France, has reference to transport costs and not to       paragraph the rate shall be reckoned by linear pro­
    the tariff proposed by the carriers in 1967, the          gression.
    relationship of which to those costs was not that
    provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 1174/68 ;
 - for determining vehicle crew costs account must be                                  Article 2
    taken of the provisions of Council Regulation             The rates for consignments of goods falling within
     (EEC) No 543/691 of 23 March 1969 on the har­            tariff class I shall be those for tariff class II , plus
   monization of certain social legislation relating to       12-5 % .
    road transport;
 - the average profit margin taken for calculation of         The rates for consignments of goods falling within
   the rates should correspond to what is customary           tariff classes II I and IV shall be those for tariff class
   in that sector; -                                          II, less 7-5 % and 17-5 % respectively.
 - examination of road transport costs does not reveal
   any marked degressivity in relation to distance; nor
   does the market situation suggest any need for                                     Article 3
   tariffs of general application, such as these, to be       The rates for other tonnage conditions shall be those
   made more degressive, bearing in mind that where,          for the 20 metric tons condition plus :
   in particular cases, the market situation justifies
   the application of rates below the general tariff          - 7-5 % for the 15 metric tons condition;
   bracket, Regulation (EEC) No 1174/68 allows
                                                              - 26-5 % for the 10 metric tons condition;
   special tariffs to be fixed and special contracts to
   be concluded under conditions determined therein;          - 50 % for the 7 metric tons condition;
                                                              - 76 % for the 5 metric tons condition .
Whereas, having regard to the provisions of Article
3 of Regulation (EEC) No 1174/68, account should
be taken, in the differentiation of the rates by tariff                               Article 4
classes of the criteria employed for the breakdown of
goods tariff classes;                                         This Decision is addressed to the French Republic
                                                              and to the Kingdom of Belgium. It shall be com­
1 OJ No L 77, 29.3.1969, p. 49.                               municated to the other Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- 30                              Official Journal of the European Communities
                     Article 5                             Done at Brussels, 28 July 1971 .
This Decision shall become effective after a period                        For the Commission
of 20 days from its notification , unless a Member
State refers the matter to the Council before that                              The President
period expires.                                                           Franco M. MALFATTI