CELEX: 31973H0133
Language: en
Date: 1973-03-19 00:00:00
Title: 73/133/EEC: Commission Recommendation of 19 March 1973 to the Government of the Italian Republic concerning three Bills on the organization of the market for the carriage of goods by road in Italy

9 . 6 . 73                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 153 /29
                                                      COMMISSION
                                             COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION
                                                         of 19 March 1973
                 to the Government of the Italian Republic concerning three Bills on the organization of
                                       the market for the carriage of goods by road in Italy
                                                            (73/ 133/EEC)
In accordance with Article 1 of the Council Decision                  Under the terms of Article 2 of the Council Decision
of 21 March 1962 (*) instituting a procedure for prior                of 21 March 1962, the Commission makes the fol­
examination and consultation in respect of certain                     lowing recommendation :
laws, regulations and administrative provisions
concerning transport proposed in Member States, the
Italian Government has communicated to the Com­
                                                                                                    I
mission, by letter of 18 January 1973 from the Office
of its Permanent Representative to the European
Communities, the following three Bills :                              1 . The Commission notes that the purpose of the
                                                                      proposed legal provisions is the complete reorgani­
— Bill establishing a national register of road hau­                   zation of the domestic road haulage market, with the
      lage operators working for hire or reward ;                      following salient features :
                                                                      (i)     the establishment of a national register of road
— Bill establishing rules for the carriage of goods                           haulage operators and the creation of a central
       by road ;                                                              committee, and of provincial, inter-provincial
                                                                              and regional committees ;
— Bill establishing a system of bracket rates for the
       carriage of goods by road .                                     ( ii ) a new definition of the system for the carriage
                                                                              of goods by road and of regulations governing
The Commission received the letter from the Office                            load-capacity ;
of the Permanent Representative on 19 January 1973 .
The Italian Government has also communicated the                      ( iii) establishment of a compulsory bracket tariff
Bills to the other Member States .                                            system with a spread of 23% for road transport
                                                                              within Italy.
Pursuant to Article 2 (3 ) of the Council Decision of
21 March 1962, the Commission consulted the                           These Provisions are consistent with the guidelines
Member States on the provisions in question at a                      of the Common Transport Policy, as they appear
meeting held in Brussels on 1 March 1973 .                            from the general aims and principles laid down by
                                                                      the Community institutions .
By agreement with the Italian Government, the
period of one month within which the Commission                       However, the adoption of such measures at the in­
must deliver its Opinion under the Council Decision                   itiative of some Member States within their own
of 21 March 1962 has been extended until 19 March                     national legislation would not assist the implemen­
1973, in accordance with Article 2 (4) of the                         tation of the Common Transport Policy. If such a
Decision .                                                            policy is to be established and its objectives achieved,
                                                                      such measures must be adopted at Community level
                                                                      in the institutional framework of the Treaty, and must
                                                                      be implemented simultaneously and in a uniform
(!) OJ No 23 , 3 . 4. 1962 , p . 720 /62 .                            manner in all Member States .
 ---pagebreak--- No L 153 /30                         Official Journal of the European Communities                               9 . 6. 73
The Commission recalled this approach in its Mem­               This registration, and checks on the subsequent
oranda of 20 September 1971 >and 8 November 1971                operation of the undertaking, both as regards con­
on the common organization of the transport market              tinued compliance with the required conditions and
and on the development of the common transport                  observance by the undertaking of the laws, regula­
policy.                                                         tions and contractual provisions which govern the
                                                                business, become the responsibility of a central com­
                                                                mittee and of regional, inter-provincial and provin­
                                                                cial committees .
2. As the Commission has pointed out several times,
for instance in its memorandum on the general aims
and trend of the Common Transport Policy anid in                The Commission notes, first, that the conditions
its action programme thereon, as well as in the above­          governing the right to engage in road haulage do
mentioned Memoranda of 20 September 1971 and                    not fully coincide with Community requirements
8 November 1971 , regulation at Community level of              and, secondly, that a Directive on conditions governing
both access to the transport market and price for­              the right to engage in road haulage should shortly be
mation constitutes the essential factor of the common           adopted, given the present state of progress of the
 organization of transport, which must make it possible         work.
to regulate competition, to promote the integration of
the market and to liberalize the provision of services
and the right of establishment in the transport                 Furthermore, the independent adoption of diverging
business .                                                      conditions by Member States would hinder the
                                                                 achievement of the right of establishment in the
                                                                near future .
Concurring with the views expressed by the Com­
mission, the Council, at its session of 22 June 1965,
agreed to the implementation of a system based on               In the light of all these considerations, the Com­
a common organization of the goods market and an                mission asks the Italian Government to .delay the
alignment of the operating conditions of national                adoption of these conditions, or at least to adjust
markets. Access to the market and price formation               them to coniform with those planned at Community
are included as essential elements in this system.              level .
Furthermore, in its Resolution of 20 October 1966,              4. The Commission also notes that among the
the Council stressed the importance of adopting pro­            conditions laid down in Article 14 of the Bill con­
visions on the inspection of load capacity and on the
right to engage in haulage operations, and asked the            cerning the registration of undertakings, Italian
 Commission to put forward its proposals for domestic           nationality is required. Under Article 15 , foreign
 and international transport operations as soon as              undertakings with ifunctioninjg administrative officers
                                                                 in Italy may also be registered, provided that there
possible. As early as 1967 (*) the Commission put
forward proposals containing provisions both for                is reciprocal treatment in the State in which their
                                                                head offices are situated .
transport for hire and reward and for own-account
transport, on which both the European Parliament
 and the Economic and Social Committee delivered a
 favourable Opinion .                                           The Commission draws the attention of the Italian
                                                                Government to the fact that haulage operators from
                                                                other Member States who meet the conditions of
                                                                establishment in Italy must be eligible for registration
                                  II                             under the same conditions as Italian haulage oper­
                                                                 ators. Further, the reciprocity clause may not be
                                                                invoked against other Member States .
 3 . As regards the Bill on the establishment of a na­
 tional register of road haulage operators, the Com­
 mission notes that engagement in the business of road           Pending the adoption by the Council of Directives
 haulage wilil henceforth be subject to certain con­             on the abolition of restrictions to freedom of estab­
 ditions and that the undertaking must be registered.            lishment as regards the carriage of goods by road,
                                                                 the Commission draws the attention of the Italian
                                                                Government to the provisions of Articles 53 and 76
                                                                 of the EEC Treaty.
 (*) Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Introduction
     of Common Rules for Access to the National and
     International Road Haulage Profession and the Con­
     trol of Capacity in the Road Haulage Sector (OJ No          The text of Article 15 should be amended accord­
     254 , 20 . 10. 1967, p. 3 ).                                ingly.
 ---pagebreak--- 9 . 6 . 73                              Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 153 /31
                               III                                                            IV
5 . The Commission notes that the Bill on the                      6. As regards the Bill on the establishment of a
carriage of goods by road defines own-account trans­               compulsory bracket rate system for the domestic
port and transport for hire or reward, and days down               carriage of goods by road, the Commission notes
the conditions for the issue of transport authoriz­                that by and large this Bills is consistent with the
 ations .                                                          general aims and principles of the Common Trans­
                                                                   port Policy as defined by the Council Agreement of
The Commission observes that the definition of own­                22 June 1965 on the organization of the transport
                                                                    market .
account transport differs in several respects from
that used at Community level, as set out in Article
9 of Council Regulation No 11 (*) of 27 June 1960 .
Furthermore, the Bill contains no provisions on treat­             It notes, however, that the proposed system departs
ing -transport by means of hired vehicles on the same              from the principles governing rates as established
footing as own-account transport. Having regard to                 by the agreement in that the Bill does not allow for
the principle that the implementation of divergent                 individual contracts with prices falling outside the
measures in Member States should be avoided, the                   brackets .
Commission considers that the Italian Government
should model its definition on the one referred to
above .
                                                                   The Commission also notes that :
Furthermore, in - view of the economic importance                  •— there is an inconsistency between Article 3 of the
in some cases of the hiring of vehicles, the Bill                       Bill, which stipulates the compulsory inclusion
should adopt the provisions set out in Article 32 (2 )                  of commercial costs in the basic rates, and
of the abovementioned proposal by the Commission                        Article 6, which lays down reduced rates, not
of 14 June 1967. Finally, in the interests of harmo­                    including commercial costs, where auxiliary
nization and liberalization, the maximum useful load                    transport services have been provided ;
to qualify for exemption under the authorization
system should be raised from 2 500 kg to 3 000 kg.                 — it is not clear from the terms of Article 8 of the
                                                                        Bill whether, as the supervision of a compulsory
                                                                        rate system implies and as is the practice in
As regards transport for hire or reward, the Com­                       other Member States, checks are permitted on the
mission considers that a positive definition unavoid­                   premises of (undertakings, not only of the haulage
ably leads »o divergent interpretations , for instance                  operators but also of their partners (consignors ,
concerning the agreed concept of remuneration,                          consignees, transport auxiliaries ).
whereas a negative definition would have fostered
harmonization while eliminating the possibility of
divergent interpretations .
                                                                   Finally, the Commission reminds the Italian Govern­
                                                                   ment that it should ensure that, in the enforcement
As for the quota system, the Italian Government                    order which it will make under Article 11 of the Bill,
provides for authorizations to be issued in respect                 the information to be given in the consignment note
of vehicles, while Community measures provide for                  meets the requirements not only of the provisions of
                                                                    the Bill under discussion but also of Article 6 of
the issue of authorizations to undertakings. The
 Commission asks the Italian Government to amend                    Council Regulation No 11 /60/EEC of 27 June 1960.
its relevant provisions accordingly.
                                                                    Subject to the foregoing comments, the Commission
                                                                    delivers a favourable Opinion on this third Bill .
 Finally, the Commission notes that the Bill no longer
provides, as under the present system, for a quota
exemption -for vehicles with a useful load of less
  than 5 000 kg. In the Commission's view an exemp­                                            V
  tion for vehicles       of low tonnage should be
  maintained .
                                                                    7. Having regard to the considerations set out above,
                                                                    the Commission considers :
 ( ) Regulation No 11 concerning the abolition of discrimi­
     nation in transport rates and conditions, in implemen­         — that the proposed -Italian measures should be
     tation of Article 79 (3 ) of the Treaty establishing the
     European Economic Community ( OJ No 52 , 16 . 8 .                  implemented within a Community framework
     1960 , p. 1121 /60).                                               by the adoption of measures consistent with the
 ---pagebreak--- No L 153 /32                     Official Journal of the European Communities                             9 . 6 . 73
   principles defined - by the Council in its Agree­                                 VI
   ment of 22 June 1965 and in conformity with
                                                            8 . The Commission shall inform the other Member
  its Resolution of 20 October 1966 ;
                                                            States of 'the Recommendation .
                                                            Done at Brussels, 19 March 1973 .
— that the proposed measures should tin any case
   be in line wiith the general aims and principles                                     For the Commission
   of the Common Transport Policy, as recalled in                                           The President
  this Recommendation .                                                                Francois-Xavier ORTOLI