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COMMISSION OPINION

of 26 June 1990

addressed to the Government of the Netherlands, concerning a draft law on the carriage of goods by road

(Only the Dutch text is authentic)

(90/347/EEC)

In accordance with Article 1 of the Council Decision of 21 March 1962 instituting a procedure for prior examination and consultation in respect of certain laws, regulations and administrative provisions concerning transport proposed in Member States (1), as amended by Decision 73/402/EEC (2), the Government of the Netherlands notified the Commission on 25 July 1989 of a draft law on the carriage of goods by road.

This notification took the form of a letter from the Netherlands Permanent Representative to the European Communities, which reached the Commission on 27 July 1989.

Under Article 2 (1) of the Council Decision, the Commission hereby delivers the following opinion:

1. The Commission has noted with interest the draft law on the carriage of goods by road, which the Netherlands Government has submitted to it for examination and consultation. The Commission notes that, according to the Netherlands Government, the purpose of this draft law - which is to enter into force on 1 May 1992 - is to improve the socioeconomic structure of the road haulage industry, to create the necessary conditions for the correct operation of the transport market, and to provide better opportunities for the development of the industry as a whole.

2. The Commission approves the Netherlands Government's initiative intended to equalize the conditions of competition among hauliers and to improve the quality of the road haulage industry.

The Netherlands Government's intention to abolish quantitative restrictions and to replace them with qualitative conditions governing access to the market is in line with the policy advocated by the Commission and with Council Regulation (EEC) No 1841/88 of 21 June 1988 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3164/76 on the Community quota for the carriage of goods by road between Member States (3). Consequently, the Netherlands rules governing national transport will be in accordance with those governing international transport between Member States. This can only make such transport easier and facilitate the completion of the internal road haulage market.

3. The Commission notes that rules will be adopted for implementing the conditions governing admission to the occupation of road haulage operator in national and international transport operations, as they relate to the good repute, financial standing and professional competence of operators. Since these matters are covered by Council Directive 74/561/EEC (4), as last amended by Directive 89/438/EEC (5), the Commission must reserve its final assessment until it has examined, from the point of view of the common transport policy, the measures needed to implement Articles 9, 10, 13 (1) (c), (2) (b) and (3) and 14 (1) of the draft law.

4. The Commission wishes to draw the attention of the Netherlands Government to the fact that the regulations adopted under Article 26 (2) must take account of the exemptions from authorization provided for in the First Council Directive of 23 July 1962 on the establishment of common rules for certain types of carriage of goods by road between Member States (6) and those applicable as from 1 January 1993 under Regulation (EEC) No 1841/88.

5. Similarly, the Commission notes that Article 26 (2) (c) provides for the possibility of prohibiting access to Netherlands territory for firms not established in the Netherlands. The attention of the Netherlands Government is drawn to the fact that the measures necessary for implementing this provision must exempt vehicles registered in a Member State of the Community from any ban or restriction on access to Netherlands territory. Such exemption is necessary in order to ensure the free circulation of services, to prohibit any discrimination on the grounds of nationality and to establish an internal Community market consisting of an area without internal frontiers. All these principles are laid down in the EEC Treaty.

6. For the reasons set out in points 4 and 5 above, the Commission reserves its final assessment of Article 26 until such time as it has examined the legislation adopted pursuant to the provisions of this Article.

7. The Commission notes with approval that this draft law emphasizes the need to comply with the social and other legislation currently in force in the field of transport - which means that the applicable laws must be strictly applied and effectively monitored.

8. The Commission also takes note of the intended definition of transport operations undertaken for a firm's own requirements (Article 1 (1) (g) of the Netherlands draft law). It notes that this definition differs from that given in point 11 of Annex I to the First Council Directive of 23 July 1962 on the establishment of common rules for certain types of carriage of goods by road between Member States, as amended, in particular, by Council Directives 80/49/EEC (1) and 84/647/EEC (2). Accordingly, the Commission suggests that the Community definition should be used.

9. The Commission requests the Netherlands Government to notify it in good time of the measures adopted in order to implement the law on the carriage of goods by road.

10. The Commission hereby informs the other Member States of this opinion.

Done at Brussels, 26 June 1990.

For the Commission

Karel VAN MIERT

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ No 23, 3. 4. 1962, p. 720/62.

(2) OJ No L 347, 17. 12. 1973, p. 48.

(3) OJ No L 163, 30. 6. 1988, p. 1.

(4) OJ No L 308, 19. 11. 1974, p. 18.

(5) OJ No L 212, 22. 7. 1989, p. 101.

(6) OJ No 70, 6. 8. 1962, p. 2005/62.

(1) OJ No L 18, 24. 1. 1980, p. 23.

(2) OJ No L 335, 22. 12. 1984, p. 72.