CELEX: 31973D0049
Language: en
Date: 1973-01-04 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 4 January 1973 authorizing three special tariffs for the carriage of iron ore from Western France to Belgium, Luxembourg and the Saar

No L 83 /38                       Official Journal of the .European Communities                                   30 . 3 . 73
                                               COMMISSION DECISION
                                                    of 4 January 1973
              authorizing three special tariffs for the carriage of iron ore from Western France to
                                           Belgium, Luxembourg and the Saar
                                             (Only the French text is authentic)
                                                      (73 /49/ECSC)
 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                   routes ; whereas, therefore, it is to be feared that, as a
 COMMUNITIES ,                                                    result especially of general rate increases by the
                                                                 SNCF, steelmakers in Belgium, Luxembourg and the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                      Saar would make more use of ore from other sources ;
 European Coal and Steel Community and in                        whereas the trend in traffic confirms this danger, the
 particular Articles 2 to 5 and 70 thereof;                      volume of traffic to which the proposed tariff
                                                                  measures relate having fallen from 500 000 tons
                                                                  ( 200 000 to Belgium, 88 000 to Luxembourg and
 Whereas, by a letter (ref. 1329 ) dated 5 November              200 000 to the Saar) in 1970 to about 330 000 tons in
 1970    from      the   Office   of    the    Permanent
                                                                  1971 ; whereas despite the reduced tariffs it would
Representative       of  France    to    the    European         still be profitable for the railways to carry the ore in
Communities, the French Government, pursuant to                  question and thus help to improve their financial
the fourth paragraph of Article 70 of the ECSC                   situation ;
Treaty, addressed to the Commission of the
European Communities a request for authority to
apply the reduced Franco-Luxembourg Tariff No                    Whereas under the fourth paragraph of Article 70 of
3530.05 to the carriage of iron ore along the French             the ECSC Treaty the application of special tariffs in
Railways (SNCF) section of the journey from Rouge                the interest of coal- or steel-producing undertakings
to Rodange ;                                                      requires the prior agreement of the Commission ;
                                                                 whereas this provision refers not only to special
                                                                 tariffs adopted in the interest of these undertakings
Whereas, by a letter (ref. 7.2.31 ) dated 14 December            but to all special tariffs, whatever the reason for
1970     from     the    Office   of   the     Permanent         adopting them, which benefit one or more of these
Representative of Luxembourg to the European                     undertakings ; whereas the agreement of the
Communities,         the   Luxembourg        Government          Commission will be granted so long as the special
requested authority to apply a reduced tariff on the             tariffs accord with the principles of the Treaty, and
Luxembourg Railways ( CFL) section of the same                   whereas it will, as a general rule, be presumed that
journey;                                                         they do so accord whenever the special tariff is
                                                                 warranted by the particular circumstances of the
Whereas, by a letter (ref. OA/mj ) dated 29 December             transport market ; whereas, however, upon
1971     from     the    Office  of    the    Permanent          considering the application of a tariff measure, a
Representative of France to the European                         carrier's interest in retaining a specific traffic load
Communities, the French Government confirming its                ought no longer to be taken into account whenever
letter of 5 November 1970 further requested                      such measure would be prejudicial to the proper
authority to apply to the carriage or iron ore from              functioning of the common market in coal and steel
Western France, that is from the mines of Rouge,                in accordance with the provisions of the ECSC
Segre and Halouse : to Belgium, the Franco-Belgian               Treaty;
Tariff No 3232.01 ; to Luxembourg and the Saar, over
a new extended route, Tariff No 3530.05 and the                 Whereas the tariff measures under consideration fall
Franco-German Tariff No 3101 , Part III, Scales 2 ( a)           within the fourth paragraph of Article 70 of the
and 2 ( b) respectively;                                         ECSC Treaty by reason of their limited application
                                                                 and because they benefit the mines of Halouse, Segre
Whereas the French and Luxembourg Governments                    and Rouge ;
base their requests on the ground that reduced tariffs
would be of particular benefit to the railways in               Whereas, as regards the interest of the railways, there
helping them to retain a heavy traffic-load ; whereas,          exists in this case a real risk of loss of traffic already
without these measures, the iron ore from the mines             threatened by the fact that the steel undertakings can
of   Western    France    would    not   withstand    the       obtain their ore supplies by other routes and from
competition from richer ore transported by other                 other     sources ; whereas     the    keenness   of    the
 ---pagebreak---   30 . 3 . 73                       Official Journal of the European Communities                             No L 83/39
 competition is apparent from the considerable drop            rise to it vary or no longer apply; whereas it feels that
 in sales of ore from Western France despite the tariff        these measures and the authority to apply them
 reductions already allowed; whereas, however, the             should be reviewed within two years at most, even if
threatened traffic is still of consequence and is              no such change has taken place ; whereas they should
 profitable to the railways, which carry it under              therefore be authorized for a limited period only;
 favourable conditions by whole trains, and to some
 extent according to prearranged schedules ;
                                                               HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS :
Whereas the indisputable interest which the tariff
 measures hold for the railways is in no way prejudicial
 to the proper functioning of the common market in                                     Article 1
 coal and steel in accordance with the ECSC Treaty;
                                                              Authority is given until 31 December 1974 for the
Whereas the competitive position of iron-ore                   application of the Franco-Belgian Tariff No 3232.01 ,
producers of the Community is in no way affected by            the Franco-Luxembourg Tariff No 3530.05 and the
 the tariff measures ; whereas other iron ore produced         Franco-German Tariff No 3101 , Part III, Scales 2 (a)
in the Community cannot be substituted for the ore            and 2 (b), to the carriage of iron ore from Western
from Western France, which consist of different                France to Belgium, Luxembourg and the Saar.
chemical substances and are mixed with other ore,
 particularly Lorraine ore ;
                                                                                       Article 2
Whereas the competitive position within the common
market of steel undertakings in Belgium,                      This Decision may be amended or repealed if the
Luxembourg and the Saar is not affected by the                 Commission considers that it is no longer warranted.
application of special tariffs, inasmuch as these
undertakings can obtain ore by other routes on no                                      Article 3
less favourable terms ;
Whereas the tariff measures have, besides, the effect         This Decision is addressed to the French Republic
of ensuring continued employment in the mining                and, as regards its application to the
areas of Normandy and in the departments of                    Franco-Luxembourg Tariff No 3530.05 , to the Grand
Loire-Atlantique and Maine-et-Loire, thus keeping             Duchy of Luxembourg.
social disturbances at bay in regions classified, by
reason of their economic structural problems, as
French development areas ;                                    Done at Brussels, 4 January 1973 .
Whereas in the circumstances the tariff measures are
in accordance with the principles of the Treaty;                                                 For the Commission
                                                                                                     The President
Whereas the Commission must reserve the right to
review its decision whenever the circumstances giving                                             S. L. MANSHOLT