Brussels, 12/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - Adopting on Thursday the report by German Social Democrat Ulrich Stockmann on the draft directive on intermodal loading units (codecision, first reading), the European Parliament agreed that such containers had to made safer and more easily transferable from one mode of transport to another (see EUROPE of 12 April). MEPs amended various measures of the directive since they would increase costs and therefore negatively impact EU trade. It believes, for example, that containers from outside the EU which meet the requirements of the International Convention on Container Safety (CCS) adopted by the United Nations on 2 December 1972 should be exempted from futher controls in the EU. Likewise, inspection frequency in the EU should be the same as for the CCS - once every 30 months, rather than every 24 months as suggested by the Commission. The demands to be met in the EU should not conflict with the requirements of the International Standards Organisation. The European Parliament believes the Member States should work towards a harmonisation of penalties for failing to meet the requirements of the directive.