In an opinion dated Friday 14 June, the Legal Service of the Council of the European Union expressed doubts and questions about the delegated Regulation on the deployment of cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS), in particular as regards the scope of the provisions suggested by the Commission or technological neutrality.
This legal opinion requested by the Member States (see EUROPE 12253/29) echoes the presentation, last March, of the delegated act in question by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12213/37). The aim is to improve road safety by enabling vehicles to communicate with each other and with the infrastructure, amongst other matters.
While the EU Council and the European Parliament normally have two months to approve or object to such an act, the legal doubts expressed by several national delegations, in the Council's working group on transport - intermodal issues and networks - (see EUROPE 12248/6), resulted in a two-month delay to the decision in May. This is so that the Legal Service can give an opinion on the matter.
In this opinion, the lawyers focus on several issues and while some provisions do not seem to them to be incompatible with Union law, other issues appear more problematic.
Thus, the Legal Service notes that, on certain points, the Commission has acted beyond its powers under this delegated act. It also notes that the delegated Regulation goes beyond what it should regulate on the basis of the parent directive 2010/40/EU on the deployment of intelligent transport systems in the field of road transport, by wrongly giving the Commission implementing powers and the ability to adopt interim measures under this delegated act.
In addition, the lawyers addressed the technological issue. On this point, there is fierce debate between supporters of WiFi technology and supporters of cellular technologies for short-range communications. In its text, the Commission, for its part, wanted to rely on WiFi technology. The Council's Legal Service does not criticise this approach negatively, but points out that the Commission did not provide, in its impact assessment, the information necessary to conclude that the advanced provisions do not hinder the development of new technologies or that all relevant factors have been considered with a view to moving in this direction.
Finally, part of the opinion is devoted to procedural aspects. In this respect, the Council's lawyers mention that the Commission should share "all relevant documents", in particular the impact study, with national experts before the presentation of the act so that they can discuss it.
A discussion in the Council's working group on transport - intermodal issues is scheduled for 26 June. For the act to be subject to an objection in the EU Council, a majority of 21 Member States representing 65% of the population is required. Since to date this level did not appear to have been gained, this opinion from the EU Council's Legal Service could have an impact on the decision of some national delegations.
The European Parliament gave the green light to the text on 17 April (see EUROPE 12238/6). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)