A revised compromise from the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union for revising directive 92/106/EEC on combined goods transport dated 13 April, of which EUROPE has obtained a copy, explicitly points out that they should not backtrack on the current article 4 of the text, which allows lorry drivers to be exempt from rules on cabotage during international combined transport operations between member states.
Although this reference does not constitute a change to the most recent compromise text published last March and outlined in our publication (see EUROPE 11991), with regard to the framework for the second mobility package (see EUROPE 11900), the determination to maintain the current regulation on this point is, on this occasion, quite explicit.
These provisions have, however, been discussed during the recent meetings of the transport working party and via intermodal and network questions at the Council. Despite some states wishing to go back on the questions of these exemptions, particularly the Scandinavian countries, the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council does not, for the time being, intend to go back on the provisions in the current text.
On the other hand, in response to concerns expressed by certain member states, especially France and Austria, it is of the opinion that this exception should continue to be exclusively applied to international combined transport but not to national combined transport operations.
With regard to the more technical aspects, this new draft compromise suggests going back to the maximum threshold authorised for road transport in order for an operation to qualify under the terms of combined transport. Therefore, although the 150 km limit is confirmed, the 20% alternative to the former for longer journeys, has been withdrawn. The Commission expressed “strong reservations” on this point.
In this text we also learned that Austria, backed up by Croatia, Denmark, the Netherlands and Slovenia, was proposing that when a state exclusively has its road highways used for transit in combined transport operations, it can decide not to apply the support measures included in the directive. This argument, however, was not retained.
Contrary to the latter text, this new draft compromise withdraws the obligation incumbent on member states to invest in transport terminals in order to respond to the directive's objectives and therefore it resonates with the requests made by several states such as Germany, Spain, Italy and Sweden. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)