Brussels, 12/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - Combined transport could be the subject of a number of legislative changes at European level. The European Commission is currently running a public consultation on Directive 92/106/EEC, in order to assess the need for a revision in the near future. This exercise is not unrelated to the current revision of the weights and sizes of lorries.
Combined transport allows goods to be moved from place to place by road, together with alternative modes of transport such as rail or river transport. The aim is to limit road transport over the journey as a whole, as far as possible to the start or the end of the journey. The goods are transferred from one mode to another in a load unit in predetermined interchanges. The Commission wants to know whether the current rules on combined transport and the criteria to be observed are being properly applied and whether they require revision.
The Commission had earlier proposed a new definition of combined transport in the framework of the revision of the directive on lorry weights, which refers to it. However, the definition was removed by the European Parliament at first reading. The MEPs felt it was more appropriate for the Commission to include this procedure in a specific revision of the directive on combined transport. The process has been launched by this public consultation, which will run until 15 August. (MD)