Council Directive 92/106/EEC of 7 December 1992 on the establishment of common rules for certain types of combined transport of goods between Member States

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 92/106/EEC  of 7 December 1992  on the establishment of common rules for certain types of combined transport of goods between Member States
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 75 and 84 (2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Whereas Council Directive 75/130/EEC of 17 February 1975 on the establishment of common rules for certain types of combined road/rail carriage of goods between Member States (4) has been amended several times; whereas on the occasion of further  amendments the Directive should be recast in the interests of clarity;
Whereas the internal market is leading to an increase in traffic; whereas the Community must do what is necessary to ensure optimum management of its transport resources in the interest of all citizens, which means using combined transport;
Whereas the increasing problems relating to road congestion, the environment and road safety call, in the public interest, for the further development of combined transport as an alternative to road transport;
Whereas measures must be taken to make possible the development and further improvement of transport methods based on the intermodality of forms of transport and on the specific means and requirements of transport operators and users; whereas such  measures must cover combined forms of transport bringing together road and other modes of transport, such as rail, inland waterway and sea transport;
Whereas greater recourse to combined transport will be encouraged by freedom from all quantitative restrictions and by the elimination of various administrative constraints which still exist in the field of road transport;
Whereas for combined transport methods to result in a real reduction in road congestion, such liberalization should relate to road journeys of limited distance;
Whereas the liberalization of the initial and final sections of a combined transport operation should be extended to combined transport operations using sea routes provided that the sea journey represents an important part of the combined transport  operation;
Whereas the Commission should submit a report every two years, starting before 1 July 1995, on the application of this Directive;
Whereas the development of combined transport would also be facilitated by stimulation measures and whereas it is therefore appropriate to reduce taxation on the use or possession of commercial vehicles to the exent that they are carried by rail and to  exempt initial and final road haulage legs from compulsory tariff regulations;
Whereas access by own-account transport to combined transport should be facilitated;
Whereas this Directive must not affect Member States' obligations regarding the time-limits for the transportation into national law and implementation of the Directives which make up the recast version,