CELEX: 51997PC0507
Language: en
Date: 1997-10-30
Title: Amended proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) concerning the granting of Community financial assistance for actions to promote combined goods transport

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                         Brussels, 30.10.1997
                                         CQM(97) 507 final
                                         96/ 0207 (SYN)
                       Amended proposal for a
                  COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)
concerning the granting of Community financial assistance
    for actions to promote combined goods transport
     (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2)
                         of the EC-Treaty)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                Explanatory Memorandum
At its plenary session of 12 June 1997, the European Parliament has
given its opinion on the Commission proposal 1 for a Council Regulation
(EC) concerning the granting of Community financial assistance for
actions to promote combined goods transport, providing for a number of
amendments.
The Commission has accepted the first part of amendment 2, amendment
3, the first part of amendment 4, and amendment 7, as far as it relates to
synergies with the PHARE programme, for the following reasons.
The first part of amendment 2, concerning Article (4)(1)(b) of the
Commission proposal, states that the innovative measures supported by
PACT concern specific operational measures, and is therefore a useful
clarification.
Amendment 3 relating to Art. 6(3)(d) of the Commission proposal, which
proposes to make access costs to inland waterway infrastructure eligible
for assistance, is in line with the general thrust of PACT not to
discriminate between the various non-road modes.
The first part of amendment 4, proposing a new littera (a) to Art. 6(4) of
the Commission proposal, stresses the conformity of proposals with the
axes of the trans-European network and the Trans-European freight
freeways. The Commission agrees that these policy initiatives are an
important part of the Community transport policy. PACT Projects should
therefore be measured also against these policy goals. However, as the
most important policy goal of the PACT Programme is to achieve a traffic
shift from road to other modes, the Commission proposes to move the
new littera to the end of Art. 6(4).
Amendment 7, as far as it relates to the synergies with the PHARE
programme, is useful, as both programmes may potentially overlap,
especially in the framework of PHARE Multicountry. It is the
Commission's endeavour to manage PACT and PHARE in a coherent
way. However, the Parliament's proposal to insert this amendment in
Article 7 would not be in line with the substance of the Article, which
 deals with comitology. It is therefore proposed to insert it as a new Art.
  O.J. No. C 343, 15 November 1996, p. 4
 ---pagebreak--- 6(5), as Art. 6 deals with the selection criteria applicable to submitted
projects.
The Commission therefore amends its proposal as follows:
 ---pagebreak---                            Amended Proposal for a
                       COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)
     concerning the granting of Community financial assistance
            for actions to promote combined goods transport
Original Proposal                                           Amended Proposal
                                 Article 4(1 Mb)
(b) innovative measures, namely              (b) innovative measures, namely
specific investments and certain             investments in specific
variable operating costs with the            operational measures and certain
exception of measures                        variable operating costs with the
concerning staff costs, energy               exception of measures
consumption and the covering of              concerning staff costs, energy
financial losses.                            consumption and the covering of
                                             financial losses.
                                  Article 6(3)(d)
(d) cost factors (especially                 (d) cost factors (especially
elements for evaluating the                  elements for evaluating the
marginal cost of access to the               marginal cost of access to the
infrastructure, particularly rail, for       infrastructure, particularly rail
the service covered by the pilot             and inland waterways, for the
action and any further                       service covered by the pilot
information enabling a judgment              action and any further
to be made as to whether aid                 information enabling a judgment
towards the costs of                         to be made as to whether aid
 infrastructure access is justified)          towards the costs of
                                              infrastructure access is justfied)
                                    Article 6(4)
  In assessing whether the project             In assessing whether the project
  is likely to meet Community                  is likely to meet Community
  transport goals, the following               transport goals, the following
  indicators shall be given priority:          indicators shall be given priority:
 ---pagebreak--- (a)    traffic shift forecast (as          (a)        traffjc shift forecast (as
percentage of total traffic on             percentage of total traffic on
route or axis);                            route or axis);
(b)    effects on other transport           (b)       effects on other transport
services in the relevant market            services in the relevant market
and possible new entrants;                 and possible new entrants;
(c)     relevance of project results        (c)       relevance of project results
for other ventures, routes or              for other ventures, routes or
market participants;                       market participants;
(d)     benefits to environment             (d)       benefits to environment
and safety when compared with              and safety when compared with
existing services.                          existing services.
                                            (e)       contribution of the project
                                            to the development and use of
                                            the trans-European transport
                                            networks and of the Trans-
                                            European Rail Freight Freeways.
                                  Art 6(5) new
                                            5. Due consideration in the
                                            selection process shogld also be
                                            given to projects which link up
                                            connections to the countries of
                                            Central and Eastern Europe and
                                            tQ projects, which create
                                            s y n e r g i e with the PHAPE
                                            programme
 5. The Commission shall also               6. The Commission shall also
ensure that the submission                  ensure that the submission
 complies with the further                  complies with the further
 conditions laid down in this               conditions laid down in this
 Regulation, namely:                         Regulation, namely:
 (a) the consent of States on                (a) the consent of States on
 whose territory the action is               whose territory the action is
 carried out;                                carried out;
 ---pagebreak--- (b) the exclusion of                    (b) the exclusion of
infrastructure measures;               infrastructure measures;
(c) the exclusion of research           (c) the exclusion of research
measures;                              measures;
(d) a guarantee that, as from 27        (d) a guarantee that, as from 27
June 1997, the railway                 June 1997, the railway
undertakings taking part in the         undertakings taking part in the
project hold a licence within the       project hold a licence within the
meaning of Article 2 of Directive       meaning of Article 2 of Directive
95/18/EC.                               95/18/EC.
6. The evaluation and monitoring        7. The evaluation and monitoring
procedures referred to in Article       procedures referred to in Article
 10 shall be determined by the           10 shall be determined by the
decisions provided for in               decisions provided for in
 paragraph 1 of this Article.           paragraph 1 of this Article.
 7. These decisions are                  8. These decisions are
 addressed to the beneficiaries          addressed to the beneficiaries
 and the Member States in whose          and the Member States in whose
 territory the combined transport        territory the combined transport
 routes are situated.                    routes are situated.
 The remainder of the text is unchanged.
 ---pagebreak---                                                                   ISSN 0254-1475
                                                             OM(97) 507 fmal
                                             DOCUMENTS
                                                              07 10 01 09
                                    Catalogue number : CB-CO-97-516-EN-C
                                                             ISBN 92-78-25671-4
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
L-2985 Luxembourg
                                                 "7-