Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2023)592 - Amendment of Directives 2009/12/EC, 2009/33/EC and (EU) 2022/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 96/67/EC as regards certain reporting requirements in the fields of road transport and aviation - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2023)592 - Amendment of Directives 2009/12/EC, 2009/33/EC and (EU) 2022/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2023)592  |
| date | 17-10-2023 |
•Reasons for and objectives of the proposal
In its Communication on ‘Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030’ ( 1 ), the Commission has emphasised the importance of a regulatory system that ensures that objectives are reached at minimum costs. It has committed therefore to a fresh push to rationalise and simplify reporting requirements, with the aim to reduce such burdens by 25%, without undermining the related policy objectives.
Reporting requirements play a key role in ensuring correct enforcement and proper monitoring of legislation. Their costs are overall largely offset by the benefit they bring, in particular in monitoring and ensuring compliance with key policy measures. Reporting requirements can however also impose disproportionate burdens on stakeholders, particularly affecting SMEs and micro-companies also given organisational and technological developments that call for original reporting requirements to be adjusted. Their cumulation over time can result in redundant, duplicating or obsolete obligations, inefficient frequency and timing, or inadequate methods of collection.
Streamlining reporting obligations and reducing administrative burdens is therefore a priority. In this context, the present proposal aims to simplify requirements in the policy area of transport and affecting in particular transport by road and aviation and will contribute to the headline ambition ‘An economy that works for people’.
The proposal will rationalise reporting obligations through a combination of measures, notably by reducing the frequency of reporting requirements and removing certain elements from the reporting obligations.
The reporting requirements are applicable to public authorities and concern the following:
·The reporting by Member States to the Commission on clean vehicles procured under Directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 2 and the reporting by the Commission to the European Parliament and Council would take place every five years instead of every three years.
·The obligation for Member States under Directive (EC) 2022/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council 3 to report to the Commission data relating to the transport of dangerous good would be simplified. In addition, they would have to report this data every two years, instead of every year. The Commission would report to the Parliament and Council every four years, instead of three, therefore following up on two sets of reports received from Member States.
·The obligation for Member State to inform the Commission of the list of airports subject to the obligation to apply the rules on groundhandling services under Council Directive 96/67/EC 4 would be deleted, as well as the Commission’s obligation to publish that list.
·The obligation for Member States to publish the list of the airports subject to the rules on airport charges under Directive 2009/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 5 would be deleted.
•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area
The proposal is part of a first package of measures to rationalise reporting requirements. This is a step in a continuous process looking comprehensively at existing reporting requirements, with a view to assess their continued relevance and to make them more efficient.
The rationalisation introduced by these measures will not affect the achievement of objectives in the policy area, as they do not interfere with the compliance of the Member States with the underlying obligations.
•Consistency with other Union policies
Under the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT), the Commission ensures that its legislation is fit for purpose, targeted to the needs of stakeholders and minimizes burdens while achieving its objectives. The proposal are therefore part of the REFIT programme, reducing the complexity of reporting burdens arising from the EU legal environment.
While certain reporting requirements are essential, they need to be as efficient as possible, avoiding overlaps, removing unnecessary burdens and using as much as possible digital and interoperable solutions.
The current proposal rationalises reporting requirements thus making the achievement of the objectives of legislation more efficient and less burdensome for public authorities and, indirectly, for companies.
•Legal basis
The legal basis of Directive 2009/33/EC is Article 175 i of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), now Article 192 i of the Treaty of the functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The legal basis of Directive 96/67/EC is Article 84 i TEC and that of Directive 2009/12/EC is Article 80 i TEC which both are now Article 100 i TFEU. The legal basis of Directive (EU) 2022/1999 is Article 91 TFEU. Therefore, the legal bases of this amending Decision should be Articles 91, 100 i and 192 i TFEU.
•Subsidiarity
The reporting requirements concerned are imposed by EU law. Their rationalisation is therefore best done at EU level to ensure legal certainty and consistency of reporting. This will ensure a level playing field indirectly for companies and mainly for public administrations across the EU, which will be benefiting from the rationalisation of reporting requirements arising from this proposal.
•Proportionality
The rationalisation of reporting requirements simplifies the legal framework by introducing minimum changes to existing requirements that do not affect the substance of the wider policy objective. The proposal is therefore limited to those changes that are necessary to ensure efficient reporting without changing any of the substantial elements of the legislation concerned.
•Choice of the instrument
The proposed Decision amends four Directives that have a compatible legal basis, these amendments are therefore suitable to be included in a single legislative proposal. Considering that the amendments only concern the obligations for the Member States to provide data, which does not require any transposition by the Member States, a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council is deemed to be the most appropriate legal instrument.
•Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation
•Stakeholder consultations
•Collection and use of expertise
These proposals have been identified following a process of internal scrutiny of existing reporting obligations and based on the experience from implementation of the related legislation. Since this is a step in the process of continuous assessment of reporting requirements arising from EU legislation, the scrutiny of such burdens and of their impact on stakeholders will continue.
•Impact assessment
The proposal concerns limited and targeted changes of legislation in view of rationalising reporting requirements. They are based on experience from implementing legislation. The changes do not have significant impacts on the policy, but only ensure a more efficient and effective implementation. Their targeted nature and the lack of relevant policy options make an impact assessment not necessary.
•Regulatory fitness and simplification
This is a REFIT proposal, aiming to simplify legislation and cut burdens for stakeholders, particularly public authorities.
Directive 2009/33/EC sets minimum procurement targets for clean vehicles, expressed as minimum percentages of clean vehicles in the total number of road transport vehicles covered by contracts awarded during two five-year reference periods. It is more rational to require Member States to report this data following a reference period, and thus every five years. This will also make reporting less frequent and thus less burdensome for national administrations.
Directive (EU) 2022/1999 requires Member States to provide certain data on the transport of dangerous goods every year. The proposal aims at simplifying this obligation by removing the requirement for Member States to provide, if possible, the determined or estimated volumes of dangerous goods transported by road. This data is not collected nor reported consistently by Member States and in any case the Commission has access to similar data provided by Eurostat. Even if providing this data is subject to the Member States’ ability to obtain it, removing this provision will relieve national administration from the requirement to attempt to obtain it and potentially relieve companies from the obligation to report this data to their respective national authorities. Moreover, under this proposal Member States would have to report the simplified data on the transport of dangerous goods every two years, covering each of the two years comprised in that reporting period. As a result, national administrations will have to conduct this reporting exercise every two years instead of every year, which is less burdensome for them.
Under Directive 96/67/EC, Member States must inform the Commission annually about the airports falling within its scope, which depends on their levels of annual traffic in passenger movements and tonnes of freight. This information on annual traffic is publicly available to stakeholders, in particular to the providers of groundhandling services, and can be retrieved directly and easily from airports, airport associations or from Eurostat 6 . Therefore, Member States can be relieved from the burden of yearly reporting this list of airports to the Commission.
Similarly, under Directive 2009/12/EC, Member States must publish a list of the airports on their territory to which this Directive applies (namely airports over five million passenger movement or airport with the highest passenger movements). For the same reasons as for Directive 96/67/EC, this data is easily accessible to stakeholders, and in particular to airlines or associations of airlines, as airports publish it on their own websites and regularly include it in their annual reports, which are publicly available. Therefore, Member States can be relieved from the burden of publishing this list of airports.
•Fundamental rights