Brussels, 03/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has rejected the main amendments put forward by the European Parliament to largely modify the Council's common position on the proposal of regulation concerning the ecopoints system (which governs heavy goods vehicle traffic through Austria). In its recent opinion on the Parliament's position, the Commission underlines the gap between the two institutions (the Parliament's position in second reading makes conciliation procedure inevitable: see EUROPE of 4 July, p.11) and considers it "will be necessary to make a major effort to reach a final agreement".
The Commission rejected the amendments which: - limit application of the traffic system across the Austrian Alps (and especially the Brenner, Tauern and Pyrhrrn passes); - impose a system of annual restrictions to heavy weight traffic depending on the degree of pollution; - do away with the preferential treatment granted to hauliers using the Hörbranz corridor (linking Germany to Switzerland) for the reallocation of Community ecopoint reserves; - reject derogations granted to Greece and Portugal concerning the ban on the circulation of certain types of heavy goods vehicles (EURO 0); - and foresee systematic controls on real nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from heavy vehicles. They accepted a number of Parliament amendments, mainly that calling for the scope of the regulation to be extended to candidate countries, while specifying that the arrangements for such extension must be defined at a later date.