The proposed Council Decision has the objective to establish the position of the European Union at the OTIF Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (henceforth "RID expert committee") due to take place on 25 May 2016 as regards certain amendments to the technical and administrative provisions contained in the Annex to Appendix C to the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF), which are due to be decided upon by the said committee.

The above mentioned annex, commonly known as the RID, regulates the international transport of dangerous goods by rail between those COTIF Contracting States that apply the RID rules (RID Contracting States).

The international provisions relating to the transport of dangerous goods are established in various international organisations, such as OTIF, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) and various specialised agencies of the United Nations. Since the rules need to be compatible with one another, a complex international system for coordination and harmonisation has been developed between the organisations involved in this work. The provisions are adapted following a two-year cycle.

A large range of public and private sector experts has been consulted during the preparation of these amendments. The following technical meetings have been carried out during the development of these amendments:

at the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods in its:

(4) 46th session in Geneva, 1–9 December 2014,

at the UN-ECE – OTIF Joint Meeting of the RID Committee of Experts and the Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods in its

(1) autumn 2014 session in Geneva, 15-19 September 2014

(2) spring 2015 session in Bern, 23-27 March 2015

(3) autumn 2015 session in Geneva, 15-25 September 2015, and

(4) there will be still another Joint Meeting (spring 2016 session in Bern, 14-18 March 2016) which is expected to recommend further amendments applicable on 1 January 2017,

at the standing working group of the RID committee of experts in its

(1) fourth session in Madrid, 17-20 November 2014, and

(2) fifth session in Zagreb, 23-27 November 2015.

In these meetings the individual proposals for amendments have been analysed and processed by the expert committees. In most cases the recommended action has been agreed upon unanimously. Certain proposals have been recommended by a majority view of the experts. The OTIF Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods will take decisions on these proposals on 25 May 2016.

The committee on the transport of dangerous goods, established under Directive 2008/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 2008 on the inland transport of dangerous goods 1 , carried out preliminary discussions on the proposals in its meeting on 14 December 2015.

The European Union acceded to COTIF in July 2011 by virtue of Council Decision 2013/103/EU 2 . COTIF is a mixed agreement where both the Union and most of the Member States are Contracting Parties. Annex III to the Decision establishes the internal arrangements for the Council, the Member States and the Commission in proceedings under OTIF. In matters of exclusive EU competence, the EU votes with the number of votes of all Member States which are members of COTIF. There are 26 EU Member States that are also Member States of COTIF. Currently there are forty-five RID Contracting states and fifty OTIF Member States.

Since 1 January 1997 the European Union has applied the provisions of RID to all transport on the EU territory, initially pursuant 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 3 . In 2008, Directive 96/49/EC was replaced by Directive 2008/68/EC which pursues the principles of its predecessor.

Article 4 of Directive 2008/68/EC, concerning third countries establishes that "The transport of dangerous goods between Member States and third countries shall be authorised in so far as it complies with the requirements of the ADR, RID or ADN, unless otherwise indicated in the Annexes". In addition, Recital 12 of the Directive establishes that "The use of means of transport registered in third countries should be allowed for the international transport of dangerous goods within the territories of the Member States, subject to compliance with the relevant provisions of the ADR, RID or ADN and of this Directive". Therefore the matter of the above mentioned amendments falls entirely within exclusive Union competence.

Thus, in accordance with Article 35 of COTIF, once decided upon by the RID expert committee, the amendments shall enter into force for all Contracting Parties on the first day of the sixth month following that during which the Secretary General has given notice of them to the Contracting Parties. A contracting party may formulate an objection within the period of four months from the day of the notification. In the case of objection by one-quarter of the Contracting Parties, the modification shall not enter into force.

In the Contracting Parties which have formulated objections against a decision within the foreseen period, the application of the Appendix in question shall be suspended, in its entirety, from the moment the decisions take effect, in so far as it concerns traffic with and between those parties. However, in the case of objection to the validation of a technical standard or to the adoption of a uniform technical prescription, only that standard or prescription shall be suspended in respect of traffic with and between the Member States from the time the decisions take effect; the same shall apply in the case of a partial objection.

Unless a sufficient number of objections are raised by the parties, the amendments concerned under this proposal are expected to enter into force on 1 January 2017 and become binding on the Union and the Member States, forming an integral part of the Union acquis.

Finally, Article 38 of COTIF establishes that for the purposes of the exercise of the right to vote and the right to object provided for in Article 35§2 and 35§4, the regional organisation, in particular the European Union shall enjoy the number of votes equal to those of its members which are also Member States of the Organisation.

The proposal has been developed based on the provisions of the Council Decision on EU accession to COTIF. The legal basis of the proposed Council Decision is Article 91 TFEU in conjunction with Article 218(9) TFEU.

The draft proposal provides for in Article 1 a detailed list of the envisaged amendments, specifying which amendments can be accepted by the Union. The envisaged amendments are considered to be appropriate for the safe transport of dangerous goods in a cost effective manner, taking into account technological progress, and can therefore be supported.

The above mentioned amendments, to the extent that they become binding on the Union, will need to be incorporated into Directive 2008/68/EC on the inland transport of dangerous goods, which applies uniform rules under COTIF to the transport of dangerous goods by road, by rail or by inland waterway within or between Member States. To this end, the Commission has been empowered to adapt Annex II, Section II.1 to Directive 2008/68/EC to scientific and technical progress by means of implementing acts. Once the objection period as regards the notification by the Secretary General of OTIF has expired, the Commission will launch the adaptation process.