CELEX: 51991PC0293
Language: en
Date: 1991-08-27
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ON ACCESS TO THE MARKET FOR THE CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY ROAD IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY TO OR FROM THE TERRITORY OF A MEMBER STATE OR PASSING ACROSS THE TERRITORY OF ONE OR MORE MEMBER STATES

N o C 238/2                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                  13.9.91
                                                                II
                                                         (Preparatory Acts)
                                                   COMMISSION
               Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on access to the market for the carriage of goods by
               road in the European Community to or from the territory of a Member State or passing across
                                          the territory of one or more Member States
                                                          (91/C 238/02)
                                                        COM(91) 293 final
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 26 August 1991)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            Regulation (EEC) No 3164/76 (3), which relates to
                                                                     access to the market for the international carriage of
                                                                     goods by road;
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 75
 thereof,                                                            Whereas Article 4a of Regulation (EEC) No 3164/76, as
                                                                     inserted by Regulation (EEC) N o 1841/88, provides,
                                                                     with effect from 1 January 1993 and with regard to the
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  kinds of transport operation referred to herein, to
                                                                     abolish transport quotas and to create a free market
                                                                     founded not on quantitative restrictions but on quali-
 Having regard       to   the  opinion    of   the   European        tative criteria to be satisfied by road hauliers;
 Parliament,
                                                                    Whereas pursuant to Article 4b of Regulation (EEC) No
                                                                     3164/76, as inserted by Regulation (EEC) No 1841/88,
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                     the Council has to adopt the measures necessary to
 Social Committee,
                                                                     implement the aforementioned Article 4a;
Whereas the establishment of a common transport policy              Whereas with regard to the rules for applying the access
entails 'inter alia' laying down common rules applicable             arrangements it is necessary to make intra-Community
to access to the market for intra-Community carriage of             carriage of goods by road conditional on the possession
goods by road on the territory of the Community;                    of a quota-free Community transport authorization;
whereas those rules should be established in such a way
as to contribute to the attainment of the internal
transport market;                                                   Whereas it is important to ensure that the authorizations
                                                                    are issued to hauliers who offer all the qualitative
                                                                    guarantees needed for the proper functioning of the
Whereas these uniform arrangements for market access                 market concerned;
also entail bringing about freedom to provide services by
eliminating all restrictions imposed on the provider of             Whereas it is necessary to specify the conditions for
services as a result of his nationality or the fact that he is      issuing and withdrawing the authorizations and their
established in a Member State other than that where the             scope, period of validity and details of usage,
service is to be provided;
                                                                    HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Whereas, following the judgment of the Court of Justice
of 22 May 1985 in Case 13/83 (*) and the conclusions
adopted on 28 and 29 June 1985 by the European                                                  Article 1
Council concerning the Commission's communication on
the completion of the internal market, the Council                  This Regulation shall apply to intra-Community carriage
adopted Regulation (EEC) No 1841/88 (2), amending                   of goods by road for hire or reward.
(») [1985] ECR 1556.
O OJ No L 163, 30. 6. 1988, p. 1.                                   O OJ No L 357, 29. 12. 1976, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- 13.9.91                               Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 238/3
                           Article 2                             3.    The authorization shall correspond to the model set
                                                                out in the Annex, which also lays down the conditions
For the purposes of this Regulation:                            for using them.
    'intra-Community        transport  operation'    means
    journeys undertaken by a laden or unladen vehicle           4.     The authorization shall be made out in the haulier's
    during which the vehicle travels from one Member            name and may not be transferred by the latter to third
    State to another or crosses a border between the            parties.
    Community and a non-member country with all or
    part of the journey being effected on Community
    territory,                                                  Each authorization or certified true copy thereof may be
                                                                used for only one vehicle at a time. In the case of a
                                                                coupled combination of vehicles it shall accompany the
    'vehicle' means a motor vehicle, a trailer, a semi-         motor vehicle; it shall cover the whole of the coupled
    trailer or a coupled combination of vehicles used           combination of vehicles even if the trailer or semi-trailer
    exclusively for the carriage of goods.                      is not registered or put into circulation in the name of
                                                                the authorization holder or is registered or put into
                                                                circulation in a different Member State or in another
                           Article 3                            State belonging to the European Conference of Ministers
                                                                of Transport.
1.    From 1 January 1993 the transport operations
referred to in Article 1 shall be subject to a system of
quota-free Community authorizations which will entitle          The authorization, or a certified true copy thereof, must
holders to access to the market for the transport oper-         be produced whenever required by an authorized
ations in question without any quantitative restrictions.       inspecting officer.
2.    Any haulier carrying goods by road for hire or                                      Article 6
reward who:
                                                                 1.    The authorization shall be issued for a specified
                                                                period and shall be valid for a maximum of six years.
— is established in a Member State in accordance with
    the legislation of that State,
                                                                2.     An authorization whose validity is to due to expire
                                                                shall be wholly or partly extended at the holder's request
— is entitled in that State, in accordance with its legis-      for a maximum of six years.
    lation and that of the Community, to carry out intra-
    Community carriage of goods by road, and
                                                                                          Article 7
— possesses a Community haulier's authorization,
                                                                 1.    Whenever an application for the issue or extension
                                                                of an authorization is lodged, and at the latest three
shall be allowed to effect the transport         operations     years after the issue or extension thereof, the competent
referred to in Article 1.                                       authorities shall verify:
                           Article 4                                whether the haulier satisfies, or still satisfies, the
                                                                     conditions for access to the profession of road
The Community haulier's authorization referred to in                 haulier in intra-Community transport operations, and
Article 3 shall replace the authorization, licence, permit
or any other facility that hauliers must possess in order
to carry out international transport operations.                    whether the haulier is complying with his tax, social,
                                                                     technical and administrative obligations or, in the
                                                                     case of an aplication lodged by a new haulier,
                                                                     whether it can be assumed, on the basis of general
                           Article 5
                                                                     rules approved beforehand, that the haulier will
1.    The Community haulier's authorization referred to              comply with the said obligations.
in Article 3 shall be issued by the competent authorities
of the Member State in which the haulier is established
within the meaning of Article 52 of the Treaty.                  2.    Where the conditions in paragraph 1 were not or
                                                                 not fully satisfied the competent authorities shall reject
                                                                the application by means of a reasoned decision or shall
2.    Certified true copies of the authorization referred        lay down, in respect of the issue or extension of the
to in Article 3 shall be issued by the same competent            authorization, compliance with certain appropriate obli-
authorities as those referred to in paragraph 1 above.          gations until the said conditions are satisfied.
 ---pagebreak---  No C 238/4                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                  13.9.91
                            Article 8                                 another Member State, the Member State on whose
                                                                     territory the infringement was ascertained shall notify it
 Even if the conditions referred to in Article 7 have been           to the authorities of the Member State that issued the
 satisfied the competent authorities may, on the basis of            authorization.
 rules in force, after first consulting the Commission,
 attach conditions to the issue or extension of the auth-            The competent authorities shall communicate to each
 orizations provided that those conditions are warranted             other and to the Commission, every three months, all the
 on grounds of safety, protection of the environment, the            information in their possession on the penalties applied
 haulier's technical and financial capacity and the                  in respect of those infringements no later than four
 application of social rules, and that they are compatible           months following the date on which a definitive penalty
 with the right of establishment and freedom to provide              has been imposed.
 services without distorting competition.
                                                                     3.    The penalties referred to in paragraph 2 must be
                            Article 9                                non-discriminatory, commensurate with the severity of
                                                                     the infringement, and make it possible inter alia to detain
The competent authorities shall withdraw the auth-                   the vehicle for at least two days but not exceeding six
 orization where the haulier:                                        days where the following infringements have been
                                                                     committed: exceeding driving hours, overloading the
— no longer satisfies the conditions laid down in Article            vehicle, exceeding the vehicle's authorized dimensions,
      3 (2) or no longer satisfies the conditions and                excess speed, failure to maintain and equip the vehicle as
      obligations referred to in Articles 7 and 8,                   required.
— has supplied incorrect information in relation to the
      data required for the issue or extension of the auth-          4.    If there has been a serious breach of this Regu-
      orization, or                                                  lation the authorization shall be withdrawn immediately.
— has been convicted, after the issue of the auth-                                            Article 12
      orization, of serious and repeated infringement of the
      provisions governing transport and traffic, notably of        The following shall be repealed:
      the rules on access to the market, driving and rest
                                                                    — Regulation (EEC) No 3164/76,
     periods, the weights and dimensions of vehicles, the
     maintenance, equipment and technical inspection of             — Articles 2 and 4 of Council Directive             75/130/
     vehicles, drivers' licences, road safety and the                    EEC O ,
     highway code.
                                                                    — the First Directive of 23 July 1962 (2), except as
                                                                         regards carriage on own account as defined in point
                           Article 10
                                                                         11 of Annex I thereto,
By 31 January each year Member States shall inform the
Commission of the number of hauliers possessing an                  — Council Directive 65/269/EEC (3),
authorization and of the number of certified true copies            — Council Decision 80/48/EEC (4).
issued by the competent authorities in their country
during the preceding year.
                                                                                              Article 13
                           Article 11                               The Member States shall communicate to the
                                                                    Commission the measures taken in relation to the
1.      Member States shall give each other mutual                  implementation of this Regulation.
assistance to ensure the application and monitoring of
this Regulation.
                                                                                              Article 14
To this and, they shall communicate to each other:
                                                                    This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1993.
— the names of hauliers possessing an authorization,
     and                                                            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
                                                                    directly applicable in all Member States.
— the number of certified true copies issued to each of
     these hauliers.
                                                                    (») OJ No L 48, 22. 2. 1975, p. 31.
2.      Where the competent authorities of a Member                 (2) OJ No 70, 6. 8. 1962, p. 2005/62.
State learn of an infringement of this Regulation                   (3) OJ N o 88, 24. 5. 1965, p. 1469/65.
committed by the holder of an authorization issued in               (4) OJ No L 18, 24. 1. 1980, p. 21.
 ---pagebreak--- 13. 9. 91                                  Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                  N o C 238/5
                                                                      ANNEX
                                                       EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
                                                                         (a)
                                                                     (DIN A4)
                                                     (First page of the authorization)
                          (Text in the official language(s) of the Member State issuing the authorization)
                      State issuing the authorization
                             Distinguishing sign:                                 Name of the authority or responsible body:
                                                 A U T H O R I Z A T I O N ( l ) No
                                 for the intra-Community carriage of goods by road for hire or reward
          This authorization entitles (2
          to carry goods by road for hire or reward by any route, using a single vehicle or a coupled combination of
          vehicles, from any Member State of th European Community to any other Member State, or between a
          Member State and a non-Community country, or between non-Community countries in respect of that
          part of the journey effected on the territory of the Community, and to move such vehicle or combination
          unladen over any part of the territory of the Community.
          Conditions for use of the authorization:
          This authorization is valid from                                 to..
          Issued in                                                         on.
                                                                                                               C)
          (') The distinguishing signs are: Belgium (B), Denmark (DK), Germany (D), Greece (GR), Spain (E), France (F), Ireland
              (IRL), Italy (I), Luxembourg (L), Netherlands (NL), Portugal (P), United Kingdom (GB).
          (2) Name or business name and full address of the haulier.
          (5) Signature and stamp of the authority or body issuing the licence.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 238/6                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                     13.9.91
                                                                       (b)
                                                     (Second page of the authorization)
                          (Text in the official language(s) of the Member State issuing the authorization)
                                                         GENERAL PROVISIONS
           This authorization is valid for the intra-Community carriage of goods by road for hire or reward.
           It entitles the holder to carry out, on the territory of the Community, and, where appropriate, on the
           conditions laid down therein:
           — transport operations between Member States,
           — the following types of transport operation in respect of that part of the journey effected in the
                Community:
               — transport operations starting in a Member State and ending in a non-Community country,
               — transport operations starting in a non-Community country and ending in a Member State,
               — transport operations between non-Community countries passing in transit through the territory of
                    one or more Member States,
           — unladen journeys by vehicles.
           The authorization is personal to the holder and non-transferable.
           It may be withdrawn by the competent authority of the Member State which issued it, notably where the
           haulier:
           — has not complied with all the conditions for using the authorization,
           — has supplied incorrect information with regard to the data needed for the issue or extension of the
                authorization,
           — has been convicted, after the issue of the authorization, of serious and repeated infringements of the
               provisions governing transport and traffic, notably of the rules on access to the market, driving periods
                and rest periods, the weights and dimensions of vehicles, the maintenance, equipment and technical
                inspection of vehicles, drivers' licences, road safety and the highway code.
           The authorization may be used for only one vehicle at a time ('). In the case of a coupled combination of
           vehicles it must accompany the tractive unit; it covers the coupled combination of vehicles even if the
           trailer or semi-trailer is not registered or authorized to use the roads in the name of the authorization
           holder or if it is registered or put into circulation in a different Member State or in another State belonging
           to the European Conference of Ministers of Transport.
           The authorization must be kept in the vehicle.
           The authorization must be produced whenever required by an authorized inspecting officer. The holder
           must comply on the territory of each Member State with the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
           in force in that State, particularly with regard to transport and traffic.
           (') Vehicle means a single vehicle or a coupled combination of vehicles.