CELEX: 31971D0260
Language: en
Date: 1971-06-23 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 23 June 1971 on the authorization of a tariff agreement between the Sociéte nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF) and the Sociéte des aciéries réunies de Burbach, Eich, Dudelange (ARBED) for the carriage of iron ore from Boulange and Algrange to Audun-le-Tiche-Mont (siding) and on the authorization of Franco-Luxembourg tariff No 3530-04 applicable to the carriage of iron ore from Boulange to Esch/Belval

Official Journal of the European Communities                                      49
 No L 161 / 14                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                 19,7.71
                                             COMMISSION DECISION
                                                   of 23 June 1971
              on the authorization of a tariff agreement between the Société nationale des chemins de
              fer français (SNCF) and the Societe des aciéries réunies de Burbach, Eich, Dudelange
               (ARBED) for the carriage of iron ore from Boulange and Algrange to Audun-le-Tiche-
              Mont (siding) and on the authorization of Franco-Luxembourg tariff No 3530-04
                         applicable to the carriage of iron ore from Boulange to Esch/Belval
                                           (Only the French text is authentic)
                                                    (71/260/ECSC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                 de fer luxembourgeois - CFL); whereas the granting
COMMUNITIES,                                                   of appropriate tariff reductions is intended to prevent
                                                               the creation of a private means of transport for the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­             carriage of iron from Boulange and, as regards the
pean Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and in                   carriage of ores from Algrange, the diversion of ore
particular Articles 2 to 5 and 70 thereof;                     procurement to other mines, utilizing existing private
Having regard to the letter of 29 October 1969 from            means of transport;
the Office of the Permanent Representative of France
to the European Communities, in which the French               Whereas, for the carriage of ore from Boulange,
 Government requests the Commission, pursuant to               ARBED has available an underground railway link­
the fourth paragraph of Article 70 of the ECSC                 ing the Ferdinand mine with the Esch/Belval factory,
Treaty, to authorize a tariff agreement between the            on which large quantities of ore were previously con­
SNCF and ARBED for the carriage of iron ore by                 veyed from pits now closed; whereas, to reach the
complete train loads from Boulange and Algrange                pits still being worked, it would be necessary to ex­
to Audun-le-Tiche-Mont (siding) ;                              tend the line another 2 km and install a conveyor
                                                               belt 1-2 km long, for which the necessary components
Having regard to the letter of 3 February 1970 from            are already available; whereas, in the absence of ap­
the Office of the Permanent Representative of                  propriate tariff reductions, ARBED plans to proceed
France to the European Communities, in which the               forthwith with these alterations, which would cost
French Government requests the Commisison, pur­                altogether 5-76 million French francs, including the
suant to the fourth paragraph of Article 70 of the             purchase of additional vehicles and handling equip­
ECSC Treaty, to authorize Franco-Luxembourg Ta­                ment, and could be carried out quickly; whereas the
riff No 3530-04 applicable to the carriage of iron ore         railways concerned would thereby lose 1-2 million
by complete train loads from Boulange to Esch/                 metric tons of traffic per year;
Belval ;
                                                               Whereas the carriage of ore from Algrange is threat­
Having regard to the letter of 7 December 1970 from            ened because ARBED intends to close the Burbach
the Office of the Permanent Representative of Luxem­           mine, the iron content of the minette extracted there­
bourg to the European Communities in which the                 from being lower than that of the ore of other mines
Luxembourg Government joins with the French Gov­               and the deposit being nearly exhausted ; whereas
ernment in requesting authorization for Tariff No              after the closure of the Burbach mine, ARBED will
3530-04 ;                                                      procure a corresponding tonnage from other mines
                                                               which it owns, situated closer to the Esch/Belval
Whereas, in their requests and according to the ad­            blast furnaces, in particular from the Montrouge
ditional information supplied in the letter of 25 Sep­         mine; whereas, in that case, transport to the blast
tember 1970 from the Office of the Permanent Re­               furnaces at Esch will be effected by the existing pri­
presentative of France to the European Communities             vate means of transport; whereas, nevertheless, AR­
and in the course of a meeting held on 22 and 23               BED will continue to use the railway for the carriage
October 1970 with a French delegation, the French              of an annual quantity of 500 000 metric tons of ore
and Luxembourg Governments cite, in support of the             from the Burbach mine until the reserves of that
tariff agreement and of Tariff No 3530-04, the in­             mine are exhausted, if appropriate tariff reductions
terests of the railways concerned (SNCF and Chemins            are granted to the company;
 ---pagebreak--- 50                                 Official Journal of the European Communities
Whereas under the tariff agreement the ordinary               Whereas there is no doubt that ARBED can imple­
SNCF tariff would be reduced, for the carriage of             ment its plan to close the Burbach mine and procure
ore, by 10 % on the Boulange-Audun-le-Tiche-Mont              corresponding quantities of iron ore from the mines
 (siding) link, and by 9 % on the Algrange-Audun-le-          nearer to the Esch/Belval blast furnaces and in parti­
Tiche-Mont (siding) link, and under Tariff No                 cular from the Montrouge mine, using private means
3530-04 there would be a reduction of 35-7 % on               of transport; whereas, should use be made of the
ECSC international tariff No 1001 for the carriage of         underground railway belonging to the undertaking,
ore on the Boulange-Esch/Belval link;                         the cost of transporting iron ore from the Montrouge
                                                              mine would be even lower than the prices fixed in
Whereas the fourth paragraph of Article 70 of the           . the SNCF-ARBED tariff agreement on the Alrange-
ECSC Treaty provides that the prior agreement of              Audun-le-Tiche-Mont (siding) link; whereas in the
the Commission is required for the application of             absence of tariff reductions, the SNCF risks losing,
special rates and conditions in the interest of one or        without any compensation, traffic on which it could
more coal- or steel-producing undertakings; whereas           continue to count for a certain period;
that provision relates not only to special tariffs .
adopted in the interest of such undertakings, but to          Whereas the tariff measures contemplated do not
any special tariffs which, whatever the reason for            affect the competitive position of producers and
their introduction, happen to be of advantage to one          users of iron ore within the Community; whereas
or more of them; whereas the agreement of the Com­            they amount merely to a reduction in intragroup
mission must be given if the special tariffs comply           transport costs comparable to that which the under­
with the principles of the Treaty and whereas such            taking itself could obtain in other ways by its own
compliance may as a general rule be presumed where            means ;
the special tariffs are justified specifically by the
conditions of the transport market; whereas the in­           Whereas in these circumstances the tariff measures
terest of a carrier in applying a special tariff in order     contemplated are not contrary to the principles of
to retain certain traffic must, however, be disregarded       the ECSC Treaty;
if the proper functioning of the common market in
coal and steel, as laid down in the ECSC Treaty, so           Whereas the Commision must be free to review its
requires ;                                                    Decision if the factors on which it is based change
                                                              or no longer obtain,
Whereas the SNCF/ARBED tariff agreement and
Tariff No 3530/04 are covered by the fourth para­             HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING DECISION :
graph of Article 70 of the ECSC Treaty, by reason of
their limited scope and the fact that they are in the                                 Article 1
interest of the Burbach and Ferdinand ore mines and           The tariff agreement concluded between the Societe
consequently of ARBED, a steel-producing under­               nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF) and
taking;                                                       the Societe des aciéries réunies de Burbach, Eich,
                                                              Dudelange (ARBED) for the carriage ofv iron ore
Whereas the interest of the SNCF and of the CFL in            from Boulange and Algrange to Audun-le-Tiche-Mont
maintaining the. traffic in question cannot be denied;         (siding), and the Franco-Luxembourg Tariff No
whereas the traffic is profitable as it involves a total      3530-04 applicable to the carriage of iron ore from
of 1-7 million metric tons per year carried under             Boulange to Esch/Belval, are hereby authorized.
advantageous operating conditions by complete train
loads in privately owned wagons ; whereas , even                                      Article 2
allowing for the proposed tariff reductions, this
                                                              If the Commission finds that this Decision is no
transport operation remains profitable for the rail­
ways ;
                                                              longer justified, it shall be amended or repealed.
                                                                                      Article 3
Whereas, in the present case, the risk of competition
from a private transport line, which ARBED could              This Decision is addressed to the French Republic
set up, is a real one; whereas its construction raises        and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
no practical problems and does not require excep­
tional investment by ARBED ; whereas, furthermore,            Done at Brussels, 23 June 1971 .
the construction and operation of such a means of
transport would be profitable in view of the rela­                              For the Commission
tively low cost of transporting the ore in question;
whereas equivalence of these costs and the contem­                                  The President
plated rail charges is respected;                                              Franco M. MALFATTI