WRITTEN QUESTION E-0153/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (3 February 1997)

Subject: Cabotage - passenger transport

The Commission has presented a Proposal for a Council regulation (EC) laying down the conditions under which non-resident carriers may operate national road passenger transport services within a Member State (COM(95)729 final) ((OJ C 60, 29.2.1996, p. 10. )).

Compared to the current Regulation 2454/92 ((OJ L 251, 29.8.1992, p. 1. )), this new proposal, relating to cabotage in the road passenger transport sector, introduces a welcome extension of the principle of liberalizing services.

However, the rapid pace of the deregulation of scheduled services is surprising since these services were not included in the scope of the above-mentioned regulation. Does the Commission not agree that it would have been preferable to open up these services to cabotage more gradually?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-0152/97 and E-0153/97 given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (21 March 1997)

It is true that the Commission submitted its proposal for a Council regulation laying down the conditions under which non-resident carriers may operate national road passenger transport services within a Member State, without submitting the report mentioned in Article 12 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2454/92 of 23 July 1992.

However, the Commission presented its new proposal under exceptional circumstances:

As a result of an action taken by the Parliament, the Court of justice annulled Regulation (EEC) No 2454/92 in its ruling of 1 June 1994 ((Case C-388/92. )) on the ground that the Council had disregarded the prerogatives of the Parliament, in particular, the duty to reconsult the Parliament when the text finally adopted, viewed as a whole, departs substantially from the text on which the Parliament has already been consulted.

Since 1 November 1993, the consultation procedure provided in Article 75 of the EC Treaty has been replaced by the co-operation procedure in Article 189c. Consequently, the Commission decided to submit a new proposal for a regulation based largely on the annulled text, on which the Parliament would be consulted in accordance with the cooperation procedure.

This new proposal is not linked to the report mentioned in Article 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/92 but rather to the annulment of this Regulation and the obligation to execute the ruling of the Court. In fact, the new proposal does not enlarge the scope of the Commission's cabotage proposal upon which Regulation (EEC) No 2454/92 is based. The Commission proposal of 1987 ((OJ C 77, 24.3.1987. OJ C 301, 26.11.1988. )) already included cabotage for regular services subject to national legislation. The present proposal, however, has included more precise rules and safeguard clauses than the 1987 proposal but the principle remains the same.

Finally, it must be pointed out that until 1 January 1996 the only cabotage services which had been liberalized were 'closed door tours' and certain specialized regular services under limited conditions (for companies established in a frontier zone and for services not more than 25 kilometres from the frontier). As regular services were not liberalized,a report would not have provided any input for the discussion on liberalization of this particular activity.

The Commission proposal for a Council regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 684/92 on common rules for the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus was presented on 10 May 1996 ((OJ C 203, 13.7.1996. )). However, discussions on this proposal and on the cabotage proposal have taken place in parallel. Moreover the Parliament appointed only one rapporteur for both proposals and gave its opinion on first reading on the same day. The Council also dealt with both proposals at the same time.

The Commission will of course take account of reactions to the green paper on Citizens network when it presents a proposal to modify Council Regulation No 1191/69 of 26 June 1969 on action by Member States concerning the obligations inherent in the concept of a public service in transport by rail, road and inland waterway ((OJ L 156, 28.6.1969. )).

The Commission does not share the opinion of the Honourable Member that cabotage of regular services has been too rapidly liberalized. As has been previously pointed out, the Commission first proposed cabotage of regular services subject to national legislation in 1987. Ten years later regular bus services have not been opened to competition from companies established in other Member States.