2005/180/EC: Commission Decision of 4 March 2005 authorising Member States to adopt certain derogations pursuant to Council Directive 96/49/EC with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail (notified under document number C(2005) 443) (Text with EEA relevance)

8.3.2005 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 61/41
COMMISSION DECISION
of 4 March 2005
authorising Member States to adopt certain derogations pursuant to Council Directive 96/49/EC with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail
(notified under document number C(2005) 443)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2005/180/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Directive 96/49/EC of 23 July 1996 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail (1), and in particular Articles 6(9), (11) and (14) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Pursuant to Article 6(9) of Directive 96/49/EC, Member States must give the Commission an advance notification of their derogations, for the first time by 31 December 2002 or until two years after the last date of application of the amended versions of the Annex to the Directive.
(2) Certain Member States had notified the Commission by 31 December 2002 of their wish to adopt derogations from Directive 96/49/EC. By Commission Decision 2003/627/EC of 20 August 2003 authorising Member States pursuant to Directive 96/49/EC to adopt certain derogations with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail (2), the Commission authorised the adoption by those Member States of the derogations listed in Annexes I and II to that Decision.
(3) Commission Directive 2003/29/EC (3) amended the Annex to Directive 96/49/EC. By virtue of Directive 2003/29/EC Member States had to bring into force national legislation no later than 1 July 2003, the last date of application referred to in Article 6(9) of Directive 96/49/EC being 30 June 2003.
(4) A few Member States notified their wish to adopt derogations. The Commission has examined the notifications for compliance with the conditions laid down in Articles 6(9), (11) and (14) of Directive 96/49/EC, and has approved them. Those Member States should therefore be authorised to adopt those derogations.
(5) By the same occasion, it is considered desirable to assemble all the derogations authorised to date in a single decision. Decision 2003/627/EC should therefore be repealed and replaced.
(6) To make sure that the situation of the derogations is updated regularly, the Commission shall propose a comprehensive update of all existing derogations at least every five years.
(7) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on the transport of dangerous goods, set up by Article 9 of Council Directive 94/55/EC (4),