CELEX: 51985PC0010
Language: en
Date: 1985-01-23
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) LAYING DOWN THE CONDITIONS FOR ACCESS TO THE ARRANGEMENTS UNDER THE REVISED CONVENTION FOR THE NAVIGATION OF THE RHINE RELATING TO VESSELS BELONGING TO THE RHINE NAVIGATION

No C 48/4                          Official Journal of the European Communities                              20.2.85
                                                           II
                                                   (Preparatory Acts)
                                             COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation laying down the conditions for access to the
              arrangements under the Revised Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine relating to
                                     vessels belonging to the Rhine Navigation
                                                  COM(85) 10 final
                          (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 31 January 1985)
                                                     (85/C 48/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                    factors of which are to be determined on the basis of
COMMUNITIES,                                                   equal treatment between Contracting States to the
                                                               Revised Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                   whereas, under the terms of the Protocol of
European Economic Community, and in particular                 Signature, the same treatment must be accorded to
Article 75 thereof,                                            vessels which have a genuine link with another
                                                               Member State of the European Community;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                               Whereas, for this purpose, the Contracting States to
                                                               the Revised Convention for the Navigation of the
Having regard to the opinion of the            European
                                                               Rhine have worked out, within the Central
Parliament,
                                                               Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCR),
                                                               implementing provisions determining the conditions
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and               under which the abovementioned document should be
Social Committee,                                              issued; whereas, by Decision of 8 November 1984,
                                                               the Council, acting on a proposal from the
Whereas transport operations on the Rhine are                  Commission, defined the common action under which
governed by the Revised Convention for the Navi-               Member States which are also Contracting States to
gation of the Rhine, as amended by Additional                  the Revised Convention for the Navigation of the
Protocol 2 signed in Strasbourg on 17 October 1979             Rhine adopted these provisions in the form of a
by the six Contracting States to the Convention, that          Resolution of the CCR;
is to say five Member States of the European
Community (Belgium, Federal Republic of Germany,
                                                               Whereas, although covered by a specific international
France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom)
                                                               Convention, transport operations on the Rhine form
and Switzerland;
                                                               part of the common transport policy and it is hence
                                                               necessary, in particular to ensure equal treatment for
Whereas the said Additional Protocol stipulates that           vessels of all Member States, to incorporate the
only vessels belonging to the Rhine Navigation shall           implementing provisions adopted by the CCR into
be authorized to transport merchandise and persons             Community law by means of a Council Regulation
between two points situated on the inland waterways            adopted under Article 75 of the Treaty and to make
referred to in the first paragraph of Article 3 of the         the requisite amendments to those provisions to bring
Revised Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine;            them into line with Community rules and procedures;
whereas vessels are considered to belong to the Rhine
Navigation if they carry a document issued by the
competent authority;                                           Whereas provision should therefore be made for the
                                                               Commission of the European Communities to act as
                                                               intermediary where the CCR is involved;
Whereas the Protocol of Signature to the
abovementioned Additional Protocol provides that
the document certifying that a vessel belongs to the           Whereas it is necessary to adopt at Community level,
Rhine Navigation shall be issued by the competent              implementing measures to apply the              CCR's
authority of the State concerned only to vessels which         implementing provisions and these measures should
have with that State a genuine link the constitutent           be adopted by the Commission,
 ---pagebreak--- 20.2.85                             Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 48/5
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION,                                   (b) as a legal person governed by public law, is
                                                                   established under the laws of a Member State or
                                                                   of another Contracting State and has its
                         Article 1                                 registered office in that State;
This Regulation defines the conditions for issuing the
document certifying that the vessel concerned belongs          (c) as a legal person or company governed by private
to the Rhine Navigation, which must be carried by                  law:
every vessel in order to be covered by the rules laid
down in the first paragraph of Article 4 of the                    (aa) is established in a Member State or in
Revised Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine,                      another contracting State under its law;
as amended by Additional Protocol 2 of 17 October                  (bb) has its registered office, principal place of
 1979.                                                                   business and place from which the vessel is
                                                                         operated in that State; and
                                                                   (cc) is managed and directed by persons the
                         Article 2                                       majority of whom are nationals of Member
 1.    The authorities of the Member State in which a                    States or of another Contracting State, and
vessel is registered in a public register shall alone be                 who have their domicile or usual residence
competent to issue and withdraw the document                             or, in the case of legal persons, their
referred to in Article 1.                                                registered office in one of those States.
2.     In the absence of a public register or in the           2.    No document shall be issued in respect of a
event of a vessel not being registered in a Member             vessel belonging to a legal person or company
State, the authorities of the Member State in which            governed by private law if it is so constituted that the
the owner of the vessel or, in the case of joint               persons holding directly or indirectly a majority share
ownership, the first joint owner to apply for issue of         in the beneficial ownership of the undertaking or
the document referred in Article 1, has his domicile,          holding the majority of shares conferring voting
usual residence or registered office shall be competent        rights or the majority of voting rights, either are not
to issue or withdraw that document.                            nationals of the Member States or of another
                                                               Contracting State, or do not have their domicile,
                                                               registered office or usual residence in one of those
3.    The document may take the form either of a
                                                               States.
special document or of an endorsement on another
document already issued certifying that the vessel
belongs to the Rhine Navigation.
                                                               3.    In the event of fiduciary relationships or similar
                                                               arrangements, the conditions laid down in paragraphs
4.     Each Member State shall send to the Central              1 and 2 must also be fulfilled by the persons on
Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine a list of           whose behalf or in whose interest transactions are
the competent authorities it has appointed to issue            performed.
and withdraw the document referred to in Article 1
so that the other States concerned may be informed.
                                                               4.    A Member State may, exceptionally, after
It shall send this list to the Central Commission for          consulting the Central Commission for the Navi-
the Navigation of the Rhine either directly, at the            gation of the Rhine, grant derogations in respect of
same time sending a copy to the Commission of the              the majority required in paragraphs 1 (c) (cc) and 2,
European Communities, or through the Commission,               on condition that the objective of Additional Protocol
which shall then inform the other Member States.               2 to the Revised Convention for the Navigation of
                                                               the Rhine is not affected. The Member State shall
                                                               consult the Central Commission for the Navigation of
                         Article 3                             the Rhine either directly, at the same time sending a
                                                               copy of the file to the Commission of the European
1.    The document referred to in Article 1 shall not          Communities, or through the Commission.
be issued for a vessel unless its owner:
(a) as a natural person, is a national of one of the           The Commission of the European Communities shall
     Member States or of another Contracting State to          if necessary lay down the general conditions under
    the Revised Convention for the Navigation of the           which such derogations may be granted in Member
     Rhine, hereinafter referred to as 'another                States, while ensuring that the rules of the Revised
     Contracting State', and has his domicile or usual         Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine are
    residence in one of those States;                          observed.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 48/6                            Official Journal of the European Communities                              20.2.85
                          Article 4                                                       Article 7
1.     In the case of a vessel which is jointly owned,           1.     The document certifying that the vessel belongs
the joint owner or joint owners who hold a majoirty              to the Rhine Navigation must identify the vessel, its
share in the joint ownership and who manage the                  owner and, where appropriate, the operator by
joint ownership must satisfy the conditions laid down            stating, inter alia:
in Article 3.
                                                                 — the name, number, place of registration, type and
2.     If there are legal persons or companies governed               category of the vessel,
by private law among the joint owners concerned, the
                                                                 — the name, business name, domicile, usual
persons who manage and direct those undertakings
                                                                      residence or registered office of the owner and,
and the persons who hold directly or indirectly a
                                                                      where appropriate, of the operator.
share in their beneficial ownership must all be
nationals of Member States or of another Contracting
                                                                 2.     The document must be kept on board the vessel
State and have their domicile, registered office or
                                                                 and must be produced on request to the inspecting
usual residence in one of those States.
                                                                 authorities.
                          Article 5
                                                                                          Article 8
 1.    The operator of a vessel must also fulfil the
same conditions as the owner in order to obtain the               1.    Member States shall adopt the implementing
document referred to in Article 1 for the vessel which           provisions required, in particular as regards the
 he is operating.                                                 procedure and burden of proof.
                                                                  Each Member State shall send its implementing
 2.    The authorities of the Member State or of
                                                                  provisions to the Central Commission for the Navi-
 another Contracting State in which the operator has
                                                                  gation of the Rhine so that the other States
 his domicile or usual residence or in which the
                                                                  concerned may be informed. It shall send them either
 registered office of the operating undertaking is
                                                                  directly to the Central Commission for the Navi-
 situated shall be competent to issue or withdraw the
                                                                  gation of the Rhine, at the same time sending a copy
 relevant document.
                                                                  to the Commission of the European Communities, or
                                                                  through the Commission, which shall then forward
                          Article 6
                                                                  them to the other Member States.
 1.    The owner, joint owner or operator of the
vessel shall submit to the competent authority an                 2.    To ensure application of this Regulation the
 application for the issue of the document referred to            competent authorities of the Member States shall
 in Article 1 and shall furnish all true and necessary            provide mutual assistance under their national law
 information to that end.                                         and shall send to each other any necessary infor-
                                                                  mation, subject to the requirements of commercial
 2.    The owner, joint owner and operator of the                 confidentiality.
 vessel, each in so far as he is concerned, shall inform
 the competent authority which issued the document,                                        Article 9
 immediately and in writing, of any change in the
 circumstances on the basis of which the document                 This Regulation shall enter into force on
 was issued.
                                                                  However, Article 7 (2) shall apply only after        a
 3.     The competent authorities may at any time                 transitional period of two years from that date.
 verify whether the conditions laid down in Articles 3,
 4 and 5 are still fulfilled. If they are not, they shall         This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
 withdraw the document.                                           directly applicable in all Member States.