Considerations on COM(2017)648 - Amendment of Directive 92/106/EEC on the establishment of common rules for certain types of combined transport of goods between Member States - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2017)648 - Amendment of Directive 92/106/EEC on the establishment of common rules for certain types of combined transport of goods ... |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2017)648  |
| date | November 8, 2017 |
(2) Reducing the negative impact of transport activities remains one of the main goals of the Union's transport policy. Council Directive 92/106/EEC 21 which establishes measures to encourage the development of combined transport, is the only legislative act of the Union to directly incentivise the shift from road freight to lower emission transport modes such as inland waterways, maritime and rail.
(3) The goal of reaching 30% of road freight over 300 km shifted to other modes of transport such as rail or waterborne transport by 2030, and more than 50% by 2050, in order to optimise the performance of multimodal logistic chains, including by making greater use of more energy-efficient modes, has been slower than expected and according to the current projections, will not be reached.
(4) Directive 92/106/EEC has contributed to the development of the Union's policy on combined transport and has helped shift a considerable amount of freight away from road. Shortcomings in the implementation of that Directive, notably ambiguous language and outdated provisions, and the limited scope of its support measures, have significantly reduced its impact.
(5) Directive 92/106/EEC should be simplified and its implementation improved by reviewing the economic incentives to combined transport, with the aim of encouraging the shift of goods from road transport to modes which are more environmentally friendly, safer, more energy efficient and cause less congestion.
(6) The volume of national intermodal operations constitutes 19,3% of the total intermodal transport in the Union. Such operations currently do not benefit from the support measures provided by Directive 92/106/EEC because of the limited scope of the definition of combined transport. However, the negative effect of national road transport operations, and notably greenhouse gas emissions and congestion, have an impact beyond the national borders. Therefore it is necessary to broaden the scope of Directive 92/106/EEC to national (intra-Member State) combined transport operations in order to support the further development of combined transport in the Union, hence an increase in the modal shift from road to rail, inland waterways and short sea shipping.
(7) A combined transport operation is to be seen as one single transport operation that directly competes with a unimodal transport operation from the point of departure to the final destination. Regulatory conditions should ensure equivalence between international combined transport and international unimodal transport, and national combined transport and national unimodal transport respectively.
(8) The current definition of combined transport includes different distance limits for the road legs of a combined transport operation, according to the mode of the non-road leg, and, for rail, the absence of a fixed distance limit but instead takes account of the notion of “nearest suitable terminal” to provide some flexibility to take account of specific situations. That definition has raised many difficulties in its implementation due to various interpretations and specific difficulties to establish the conditions for implementation. It would be useful to lift those ambiguities while also ensuring that some measure of flexibility is retained.
(9) In the current definition of combined transport, the minimum distance of 100 km for the non-road leg of a combined transport operation ensures that most combined transport operations are covered. Rail and short sea shipping legs run over large distances to be competitive with road-only transport. That minimum distance also ensures exclusion from the scope of specific operations such as short ferry crossings or deep sea transport which would occur anyway. However, with such limitations, a number of inland waterways operations around ports and in and around agglomerations, which contribute greatly to decongesting the road networks in sea ports and in the immediate hinterland and to reducing environmental burdens in agglomerations, are not considered for the purposes of combined transport operations. It would therefore be useful to remove that minimum distance while maintaining the exclusion of certain operations such as those including deep sea shipments or short-distance ferry crossings.
(10) The minimum size limit of load units currently specified in the definition of combined transport could hamper the future development of innovative intermodal solutions for urban transport. On the contrary, being able to identify load units through existing standards could speed up their handling in terminals and facilitate the flow of the combined transport operations in order to ensure the easier treatment of defined load units and ensure that they are future-proof.
(11) The outdated usage of stamps in proving that a combined transport operation has occurred prevent the effective enforcement or the verification of eligibility for the measures provided for in Directive 92/106/EEC. The evidence necessary to prove that a combined transport operation is taking place should be clarified as well as the means by which such evidence is provided. The use and transmission of electronic transport information, which should simplify the provision of relevant evidence and its treatment by the relevant authorities, should be encouraged. The format used should be reliable and authentic. The regulatory framework and initiatives simplifying administrative procedures and the digitalisation of transport aspects, should take into consideration developments at Union level.
(12) The scope of the current economic support measures defined in Directive 92/106/EEC is very limited, consisting of fiscal measures (namely the reimbursement or reduction of taxes) which concern only combined rail/road transport operations. Such measures should be extended to combined transport operations covering inland waterways and maritime transport. Other relevant types of measures, such as infrastructure investment support measures or different economic support measures, should also be supported.
(13) The main infrastructure bottleneck hampering the shift from road freight to other modes of transport is at the transhipment terminal level. The current distribution and coverage of transhipment terminals in the Union, at least along the existing TEN-T Core and Comprehensive network, is insufficient yet the capacity of existing transhipment terminals is reaching its limit and will need to develop in order to cope with overall freight traffic growth. Investing in transhipment terminal capacity may reduce overall transhipment costs, and hence produce a derived modal shift, as demonstrated in some Member States. Member States should therefore ensure, in coordination with the neighbouring Member States and with the Commission, that more combined transport transhipment terminals and transhipment capacity are constructed or made available to transport operators. This would incentivise the use of freight transport alternatives and increase modal shift, thus making combined transport operations more competitive than road transport alone. The increased coverage and capacity of transhipment terminals should, at the very minimum, be established along the existing TEN-T Core and Comprehensive networks. There should be on average at least one suitable transhipment terminal for combined transport located no further than 150 km from any shipment location in the Union.
(14) Member States should implement additional economic support measures in addition to the existing ones, targeting the various legs of a combined transport operation, in order to reduce the road freight and to encourage the use of other modes of transport such as rail, inland waterways and maritime transport, thereby reducing air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, road traffic accidents, noise and congestion. Such measures may include the reduction of certain taxes or transport fees, grants for intermodal load units effectively transport in combined transport operations, or the partial reimbursement of transhipments cost.
(15) Support measures for combined transport operations should be implemented in compliance with the State aid rules contained in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
(16) Support measures should be coordinated, as needed, between Member States and the Commission.
(17) Support measures should also be reviewed on a regular basis by the Members States to ensure their effectiveness and efficiency.
(18) For the purposes of this Directive, there should not be a distinction between combined transport for hire or reward and own-account combined transport.
(19) To cope with the evolution of Union transport, and in particular the combined transport market, relevant data and information should be gathered by the Member States and reported to the Commission on a regular basis and the Commission should submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of this Directive every four years.
(20) Transparency is important for all stakeholders involved in combined transport operations, notably those affected by this Directive. To support such transparency, and promote further cooperation, competent authorities should be identified in each Member State.
(21) In order to take into account market developments and technical progress the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of supplementing this Directive with further details on the information on combined transport operations to be reported by the Member States. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making 22 . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council should receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts should systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
(22) Since the objectives of this Directive to further promote the shift from road transport to more environmentally friendly modes of transport, and hence reduce the negative externalities of the Union transport system, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of the primarily cross-border nature of freight combined transport and interlinked infrastructure, and of the problems this Directive is intended to address, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives
(23) Directive 92/106/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,