CELEX: 51975PC0175
Language: en
Date: 1975-04-25
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A DECISION OF THE COUNCIL concerning the negotiating directives for an Agreement between the European Economic Community and certain non-member countries on the rules to be applied to the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

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COM (75) 175
Vol. 1975/0067
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION 05 THE BUROPEAN œMMOMUSS
                                                          COM(75 ) 175 final
                                                          Brussels , 25 April 1975
                      FROPOSAL FOR A DECISION OP THE COUNCIL
             concerning "the negotiating directives for an Agreement
   between the European Economic Community and certain non-member countries
                        on the rules to be applied to the
             international carriage of passengers by ooach and bus
                  ( submitted to the Council by the Commission)
   COM(75 ) 175 final
 ---pagebreak--- EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1.       On 5 January 1973 "the Commission sent the. Council a proposal for
a 'Council Decision relating to the opening of negotiations ,.for an agreement
between the EEC and certain non-member countries on. the . rules to be ;
applied to the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus "
(doc . CQM(72 ) 1685 final , of 4 January 1973 ) •
         According to Article 1 of that proposal for a decision , the
negotiations would be conducted with those non-member countries belonging
to the European Conference of Ministers of Transport £e®IT.), i.e. Austria,
Spain , Greece , Norway , Portugal , Sweden r Switzerland , Turkey and
Yugoslavia.
         Article 2 of that proposal provides that the negotiations should be
conducted by the Commission on the basis of the directives which the
Council , acting by a qualified majority , would lay down on a proposal from
the Commission .
2.       It must be pointed out that in Resolution No . 20 of 16 December
1969 j amended on 16 June 1971 , the ECKT provided for general rules to
govern international passenger traffic by coach and bus .       It drew up
definitions of regular services , shuttle services and occasional services ; -
liberalization measures were introduced for closed-door tours and for
occasional services operated "outward laden/return unladen"; in addition,
a single control document was adopted for such transport .
 ---pagebreak--- 3.      The negotiations should make it possible to eliminate the diff­
erences between the Community legislation and the rules currently applied
to the international carriage of passengers to and from non-member countries
where the application of two systems is liable to give rise to problems
both from the legal point of view and as regards the practical application
of parallel provisions . Furthermore , the negotiations should relate only
to transport operations between Member States and non–member countries
which are of genuine economic interest to each participant .
4.      The negotiations should therefore lead to a. standardization of
the definitions of the various ways of carrying passengers and to an
alignment of the rules applicable to occasional services . In view of ,
the ever-diminishing number of shuttle services , and also of the fewness ,
small scale and infrequency of regular services , the negotiations will at
present not relate to the rules governing such services .
5.      The attempt to adopt common provisions does not necessarily
imply that the same rules will be applied to all non–member countries ,
so long as the economic and social conditions are not suited to the
application of common rules and their competitive positions differ .
Such circumstances could lead to the conclusion of different agreements
with certain non-member countries .
 i      Furthermore , no systematic attempt should be made during these
negotiations to adapt the provisions adopted by the ECMT to the
Community miles , but an examination should be made to ascertain whether ,
and to what extent , the differences between the two systems could lead,
to amendments being made to the Community rules . The changes in
Community law which this would require would be made in the regulation'
approving the Agreement to be concluded.
 ---pagebreak---           The examination from this viewpoint of the differences between
the various systems allow the following conclusions to be drawn as a
"basis for the negotiations .
A.        Definitions
          (a ) Although the ECMT definition of regular services is more
          detailed than that given in Article 1 (l ) of Regulation No ,
          117/66/ESC , it corresponds "broadly with the Community definition.
          In particular , it comprises the principles of s
          -     a fixed itinerary,          -      -
                the frequency of the service and
          -     the timetable .
          The definition of special regular, services corresponds to that
          given in Article 1 ( 3 ) of Regulation No .II7/66/SEC*
          It would be advisable to seek to extend to the non-member countries
      . concerned the definition contained in Article 1 (l ) of Regulation
         JTo 117/66/EEC ,- since ,, on. account of its wording and the use of the
          term "specified routes ", this definition makes a clearer dis­
          tinction between transport operations governed by strict rules
          (regular services ) and liberalized transport operations (occasional
          services) thus helping to check abuse .
          (b ) In the case, of shuttle services , the ECMT definition corres­
          ponds to that of Article 2 (l ) to (3 ) of Regulation No 117/66/EEC.
       . However , paragraph 4 of that Article , which provides that. >
        • conditions should be laid down under which exceptions may be
          authorized , is excluded .
 ---pagebreak---                               4
In view of the need to retain the right to authorize the
operator to include on the return journey passengers who have
made the outward journey with another group , this provision
should be incorporated in the ECMT definition and applied to •
transport operations between Member States and the non-member
countries concerned .
(c )   The ECMT definition of occasional services corresponds to
that given in' Article 3 of Regulation No II7/66/EEC . However ,
while the Community definition subdivides occasional services
into three types of transport operation (closed-door tours ,
outward laden/retum unladen services , other services ), the
ECMT definition introduces an additional type (outward unladen/
return laden ).                           -
In this particular case , the subdivision adopted by the Community
should, for practical reasons , be replaced by that adopted by the
ECMT .
Furthermore , the terms "outward laden ( or unladen )" and "return
laden (or unladen )" would be replaced respectively by the terms
"entry laden (or unladen)'1 and "exit laden (or unladen )".
B.     Scope
       The ECMT resolution and Regulation No 117/66/EEC (the second
indent of Article 4 (l )) are both applicable to carriage by
vehicles intended to carry more than nine persons , including the
driver. . However , Regulation No 117/66/EEC also stipulates that
the vehicle iiould be "suitable " for carrying out such transport
operations .
 ---pagebreak--- It would "be advisable to propose that the non-member countries
should also adopt this provision and should therefore accept the
definition contained in Regulation No 117/66 /EEC.
C.     Rules applicable to occasionai services
(a )   Liberalization measures
Under the ECMT rules , closed-door tours and entry laden/exit
unladen servioes do not require authorization .         Under the EEC
rules , certain services where the entry journey is made unladen -
also do not require authorization, provided that the "conditions
set out in Article 5 (2 ) of Regulation No 117/66/EEC are
fulfilled .
Such liberalization measures would also be extended to traffic
to and from those lion–member countries applying the provisions of
the European Agreement concerning the work of crews of vehicles
engaged in international road transport ( AETR)V The application
of liberalization measures to services where 'the entry journey
is made unladen as it is to serve as a relief service would .also
be advocated on the same terms .    It should be noted that such a
provision would therefore also have to be incorporated in the
Community rules .
0>)    Control document        , •-       .    -, . . :
On the basis of the Community provisions ,- and in particular of
Regulation (EEC ) No 1016/68 , the ECMT has drawn up a control
document in the form of a passenger waybill to be completed 'before
any liberalized occasional service • is operated .
 ---pagebreak---                 As in the case of the EEC passenger waybills , the ECMT documents
   are contained in a waybill book. However , there are some differences
   between the documents used by the EEC and the ECMT , i.e. the ECMT document .
   –             is used solely for liberalized occasional services , whereas the
                 EEC document must,, be used , . whatever form the occasional service
                 takes ;
   –             therefore refers only to closed-door tours and entry laden/exit
                 unladen services , whereas , the EEC document also refers to the
                 various entry unladen/exit laden services and to "all other
                 services ";                                   . .
   –             is smaller and therefore more manageable ;
   –.            is printed in the official language (s ) of the country in which the
             • vehicle is . registered , but is translated only into French and
          :      English' in cases where the original text is in another language ;
                 the EEC passenger waybill , on the other hand , also has , on the
                 reverse side , translations into all the official languages of the
     ■           Communityj other than that/those of the country in which the
        .   . .- vehicle is registered .
                 In. order to facilitate the administrative work and the control
   formalities , an attempt should be made to introduce a single document .
   Once this principle has been accepted , it is not essential that detailed
, directives should be proposed in this connection. In fact , the technical
   aspects of this matter require a certain degree of flexibility and adap­
   tation during the negotiations and that the opinions of the various
   participants be taken into account sufficiently; it is therefore adequate
 • to . state purely and simply that it would be necessary to simplify and
   standardize the documents in question as far as possible . The resulting
   document would replace the one currently used under the Community rules .
 ---pagebreak---                                    - 7 -                       *
6.      Apart from -the provisions of a technical nature mentioned above ,
it would appear necessary to reach an agreement with the non-member
countries concerned on certain common rules of a more general character ,
governing , in particular :
–       the procedure for a joint examination by the representatives of
        each contracting party of the general operation of the Agreement
        and of specific cases liable to arise within the framework of the
        application of the Agreement ; those representatives could also
        draw up proposals for additions or amendments to the Agreement ;
–       the period of validity of the Agreement , which should also be
        automatically extendible for successive periods of a pre–determined
        duration ;       „                                  (
–       the termination of the Agreement by one of the contracting parties ,
        after the other party has been consulted , and the notification of
        such termination within agreed time limits .
 ---pagebreak---                       «· 8 –
       PROPOSAL FOR A DECISION OP THE COUNCIL
    concerning the negotiating directives for an
       Agreement between the European Economic
     Community and certain non-member countries
on the rules to be applied to the international
       carriage of passengers by coach and bus '
 ---pagebreak--- THE COUNCIL OP THE EUROPEAN CCMMUNITIES
Having regard to the Council Decision of                      relating to the
opening of negotiations for an agreement bet-ween the EEC and certain non-
member countries on the rules to "be applied to the international carriage
of passengers by coach and bus , and in particular Article 2 thereof ,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ,
Whereas it is appropriate to draw up certain directives for these
negotiations conforming with the afore-mentioned Article 2 ;
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS :
      {                                                           ,
                               Sole Article
        The negotiations with the non-member countries referred to in
Article 1 of the Council Decision of                              shall be
conducted by the Commission on the basis of the following directives :
1.      Definition of the forms of transport                -  •  -
(a ).   The definition contained in Article 1 of Council Regulation
No 117/66/EEC of 28 July 1966 ( 1 ) shall be extended to cover regular
services and special regular services between Member States and non-
member countries , v
(1 )    OJ No 147 , 9 August 1966 .
 ---pagebreak---                                      - 10 -
(b )      The definition of shuttle services contained in Article 2 ( 1 ), (2 )
and ( 3 ) of Regulation No II7/66/EEC shall, be extended ; furthermore , a
provision shall "be added permitting the public authorities to authorize
transport operators to include on the return journey passengers who have
made the outward journey with another group. 1 ...
(c)       The definition of occasional services contained in ECMT resolution
No 20 shall serve as the basis for negotiation; however , the terms "outward
journey" and "return journey" shall be replaced by "entry " and "exit "
respectively. This amended definition shall be introduced at Community
level at the same time and shall replaces that provided for in Article 3
of Regulation No 117/66/13EC ; Article 5 of the same Regulation shall
be adopted .
2.        Definition of the vehicles
          The definition of the construction and equipment of the vehicles
given in the second indent Of Article 4 0 )        Regulation No II7/66/EEC
shall be- extended to cover carriage between Member States- and the non-
member countries concerned .                            ...             • ./
3.        Liberalization of occasional services
          The measures referred to in Article 5 0 )       Regulation. No llj/66/EEC
shall be extended to cover carriage between Member States and non-member
countries . Furthermore , the liberalization measures provided for in
paragraph 2 of that same Article shall be extended to routes to and from
all non-member countries applying the provisions of the AETR. Liberalization
measures shall also be applied to vehicles making the outward journey unladen
and intended to serve as relief services .
 ---pagebreak---  4.        Control documents
           During the negotiations a single model document shall "be introduced
 for all the occasional services both between Member States and between
 Member States and non-member countries . The document must be as simple
 as possible . The model shall replace that provided for in Commission
 Regulation (EEC ) No 1016/68 of 9 July I968 (2 ).
  5.       Concertation
           Provision shall be made for procedures whereby the . representatives
 of the contracting parties - can hold discussions to concert action at the
 request of one party whenever necessary . They shall also be able to .
 examine the general operation of the Agreement and , where appropriate ,
 draw up proposals for amending or adding to it .
 6.        Period of validity and extension of the Agreement
                                                                     j        '
           The Agreement shall be valid for a period of ten years . Unless
 it is . terminated by one . of the contracting parties , it shall thereafter
  be extended automatically.
 7.        Termination of the Afrreement
           Each contracting party shall have the right to terminate the
 Agreement , after consulting the other party beforehand and giving notice .
 Done at Brussels                                         For the Council
                                             . .          The President
_(2 )      OJ No L 173 , 22 July 1968