Brussels, 07/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - In a second reading and without amendments, the European Parliament approved on Tuesday 6 July, the report by Anne Jensen (ALDE, Denmark) ratifying the compromise on (EUROPE 9805) Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in road transport. This is the result of a compromise between the Council and MEPs. The directive establishes a new legal framework for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and calls on the European Commission to elaborate technical specifications for the application of these systems. As sought by the Parliament, common specifications and standards will be adopted in four priority domains corresponding to the six priority actions defined in the Council's common position adopted in May (EUROPE 10138). The Commission has to adopt within the next seven years specifications (i.e. functional, technical, organisational or services provisions) to address the compatibility, interoperability and continuity of these technologies. According to the report by Jensen, the Commission also published a declaration in which it sets out a timetable for adopting specifications in each of the six priority action areas: - 2014 for information services on multimodal journey planners; - 2013 for information services in real time on traffic and safe and secure stopping areas for lorries and commercial vehicles; - 2012 for universal and minimum information services on free information for road end users, implementation of the emergency number (eCall), which is interoperable throughout the European Union and information on safe parking areas. The Commission is also expected to put in place this year, an ITS European committee and a European ITS Advisory Group in charge of providing advice on the commercial and technical aspects of deploying these systems. In 2011, the Commission is expected to adopt the detailed work programme on this question. In a press release published on Tuesday, the Commission welcomed the vote at the Parliament and declared: “The costs of traffic congestion - estimated at 1% of European gross domestic product - can be reduced by 10% through the deployment of ITS”. ASECAP - the European Association of Tolled Motorway, Bridge and Tunnel Concessionaires - also welcomed the adoption of the directive and highlighted the fact that the ITS were “essential applications” for strengthening the efficiency of the motorway network. (A.By./transl.fl)