CELEX: 31974D0302
Language: en
Date: 1974-05-22 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 22 May 1974 authorizing the application of special tariff measures to the carriage by rail of Lorraine iron ore to the Saar

No L 171 / 2                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                27 . 6 . 74
                                               COMMISSION DECISION
                                                     of 22 May 1974
               authorizing the application of special tariff measures to the carriage by rail of
                                              Lorraine iron ore to the Saar
                                    (Only the German and French texts are authentic)
                                                      (74/302/ECSC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                  Whereas these rates and conditions, while constituting
COMMUNITIES,                                                    an advantage for the iron mines of Lorraine, have not
                                                                been found to affect the market position of purchases
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European           in the Saar ; and that purchasers in the Saar have the
Coal and Steel Community and in particular Articles             alternative of replacing Lorraine ore by ore from other
2 to 5 and 70 thereof ;                                         sources under conditions which are at least similarly
                                                                favourable ;
Whereas by Decision No 13/67 (') of 7 June 1967, the
High Authority of the ECSC authorized the applica­
tion , until 31 December 1971 , of reduced rates to the         Whereas, as regards the iron mines of Lorraine,
carriage by rail of Lorraine iron ore to the Saar ;             limited State aid to supplement the efforts being made
                                                                by undertakings themselves is justified in the light of
Whereas, by letters dated 18 January 1973 and 21                present market conditions ;
February 1973 from the Offices of the Permanent
Representatives of France and Germany respectively              Whereas such aid will make it easier to adjust to new
to the European Communities, the French and                     conditions of production and sale and to lay down
German Governments, pursuant to the fourth para­                long-term guidelines for mining activities in Lorraine
graph of Article 70 of the ECSC Treaty, addressed to            in the light of ascertainable market trends ;
the Commission of the European Communities a
request for authority to apply, until 31 December
 1976 to the carriage under consideration :                     Whereas, the aforesaid subsidy contributes to the
                                                                avoidance of disturbances in        labour markets in a
— over the French section , a reduction of 1-01                 region which , because of its economic structure, is
     FF/ metric ton as provided for in special Franco­          faced with special employment problems ;
     German Tariff No 3101 , of which 0-33 FF/ metric
     ton would be subsidised by the French Govern­              Whereas , moreover, a reduction in deliveries of ore
     ment and 0-68 FF/ metric ton by the SNCF ;                  from   Lorraine    to the   Saar would     be  harmful     to
— over the German section , a reduction of 0-48                  economic relations which, in the interest not only of
     DM/ metric ton , in the. form of a tariff subsidy           the two Governments but also of the Community as a
     granted pursuant to the directives of 17 October            whole, should be preserved ;
      1967, in their version of 1 December 1972, from
     the German Minister for Economic Affairs .
                                                                 Whereas    the   amount    of the   tariff aid  meets     the
Whereas the two governments invoke in particular the             required objective ;
 fact that the advantage provided by these measures to
 the Lorraine iron ore producers is necessary for the            Whereas the application of these tariff reductions has
 economic stability of the Lorraine/Saar region and              no disturbing effect upon the functioning of the
 especially for the stability of that region's heavy             common market ;
 industry ; whereas the SNCF has a commercial
 interest in continuing to carry some 4 million metric           Whereas in these circumstances the continued applica­
 tons per year, currently threatened by competition              tion of the special tariff is compatible with the princi­
 from ore carried by other means of transport at favou­          ples of the Treaty establishing the ECSC ;
 rable prices ;
 Whereas , since the two Member States concerned                 Whereas     the  measures    take the    form  of   a   tariff
 apply separate rates for their respective sections of the       subsidy ; whereas it is consequently necessary to limit
 journey, the tariff measures in question constitute             the duration of their application and to progressively
 'special internal rates and conditions' within the              reduce their importance in order that they do not
 meaning of the fourth paragraph of Article 70 of the            become, for those benefitting from them , a long­
 ECSC Treaty ;                                                   lasting compensation for their difficulties and that
                                                                 they are a real incitement to these latter to overcome
 (') OJ No 116, 17 . 6 . 1967, p. 2249/ 67 .                     their difficulties ;
 ---pagebreak--- 27 . 6 . 74                             Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 171 /3
Whereas the aforesaid subsidy has already been                    Whereas the Commission must reserve the right to
applied without degressivity for more than seven years            review its decision whenever the circumstances giving
and whereas if the request of the interested govern­               rise to it vary or no longer apply,
ments is met this will lead to this measure being
unchanged for a total period of 10 years ;
                                                                   HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
Whereas, in addition , in the previous decisions
concerning the special rates applicable to the carriage
of French iron ore, in particular the Decisions of 4                                     • Article 1
January 1973 extending the authority for the applica­
tion of two special tariff measures to the rail carriage          Authorization is hereby given, until 31 December
of Lorraine iron ore to Belgium and Luxembourg (')                 1974, for the application to the carriage by rail of
                                                                   Lorraine iron ore to the Saar of Franco-German Tariff
and the authorization of three special tariffs for the
carriage of iron ore from Western France to Belgium,               No 3101 and of the German tariff subsidy (Fracht­
Luxembourg and the Saar (2) the Commission has                     hilfe) granted pursuant to the Directives from the
                                                                   Bundesminister fur Wirtschaft.
with the agreement of the interested Member States,
considered all these measures as an undivided whole
in the rate structure ;                                                                    Article 2
Whereas, by its Decisions of 4 January 1973, the                  This Decision may be amended or repealed if the
Commission limited the authorization of the measures               Commission finds that it is no longer warranted.
taken by these decisions until 31 December 1974,
considering it necessary to review them within two                                         Article 3
years at the most ;
Whereas if the measures applied to the carriage of                This Decision is addressed to the Federal Republic of
Lorraine ore to the Saar were authorized for a longer              Germany and to the French Republic.
period the result would be differential treatment on
the one hand , between the various mines even within
the Lorraine orefield because the same mines do not                Done at Brussels, 22 May 1974.
furnish all the three countries and, on the other hand ,
between the Lorraine orefield and the mining area in                                         For the Commission
the West of France ;
                                                                                                 The President
Whereas it is therefore necessary likewise, to restrict
these measures to 31 December 1974 ;                                                        Fran<;ois-Xavier ORTOLI
                                                                                                 /
(') OJ No L 83, 30 . 3 . 1973 , p. 36 .
(2) OJ No L 83, 30 . 3 . 1973 , p. 38 .