On Wednesday 20 May, the EU Council adopted two of the four temporary measures proposed by the European Commission at the end of April to “ease the regulatory burden and reduce costs for transport companies” (see EUROPE 12477/5).
The two measures in question were adopted by written procedure and will enter into force on the day after they are published in the Official Journal of the EU, which should be some time next week.
The first measure relaxes the rules relating to the fees payable by ship operators for using port infrastructure: it will give ports the option to waive, suspend, reduce or defer the fees owed by operators between 1 March 2020 and 31 October 2020.
The second measure will extend the validity of some certificates and licences for road, rail and inland waterway transport and will defer some checks. The text states that, in order to ensure that the internal market functions properly, Member States that are able to continue issuing specific permits or certificates despite the current crisis will be required to accept licences from Member States that are giving extensions for the permits and certificates.
MEPs agreed with the Council of the EU’s position and, a few days ago, supported implementation of these two measures (see EUROPE 12488/10).
There is, however, still legislative work in progress on the other two measures that make up the emergency package (see EUROPE 12477/5). Parliament took up a different position to the Council of the EU on these two measures involving the air and rail industries. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)