Brussels, 28/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 27 June, the European Commission began or decided to pursue a number of infringement procedures in the area of transport. A reasoned opinion has been sent to Poland for incorrect transposition into national law of the directive on the Community systems for monitoring the traffic of ships in European waters and information which allow member states to notify maritime authorities of dangerous or polluting cargoes, and provide for intervention in the event of accidents at sea. Poland is criticised for its provisions on the reporting of accidents and incidents at sea and on the notification of dangerous and polluting goods. A reasoned opinion was sent to Malta, similarly for incorrect transposition of the directive. The Commission found fault in the Maltese provisions dealing with the obligation to fit ships with devices such as Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) and Voyage Data Recorders (VDR).
In air transport, the Commission decided to refer Malta to the Court of Justice, since it considers the airport tax levied at Malta International Airport to discriminate between air passengers as it is only levied on air passengers beginning an international journey from Malta airport, but not levied if the passenger had started the journey outside Malta. A letter of formal notice was sent to Malta on 4 July 2006, and then a reasoned opinion was delivered on 15 December 2006. The Commission also decided to send a reasoned opinion to Poland and to take four member states (Greece, Ireland, Italy and Luxemburg) to the Court of Justice for not having communicated their national implementing measures to transpose the directive on the safety of third-country aircraft using Community airports. This directive had to be implemented by member states by 30 April 2006, and the Commission had to be informed. In Poland's case, it now has two months to respond satisfactorily to the Commission.
In the maritime sector, in addition to the reasoned opinions sent to Poland and Malta for failing to comply with requirements on monitoring the traffic of ships, the Commission decided to take action against Germany, Spain and Estonia for failure to respect EU legislation on better availability and use of port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues. Member states ought to have put in place waste reception and handling plans for all their ports by 27 December 2002. The Commission also sent a letter of formal notice to Spain for failure to comply with the Court of Justice judgment of 9 March 2006 on the freedom to provide maritime transport services within the Member State (maritime cabotage). The Commission considers that, by maintaining in force legislation concerning the conditions governing maritime services in the Vigo estuary, Spain had failed to fulfil its obligations.
In inland transport and road security, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to ten member states (Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) for failing to inform it of the provisions they have adopted to comply with the directive on the training of professional drivers. The directive defines the minimum requirements to be met during initial qualification and periodic training for drivers of certain road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers. The directive should have been transposed into member states' national legislation by 10 September 2006. The Commission also decided to refer Greece and Luxemburg to the Court of Justice for failure to transpose the directive on minimum safety requirements for tunnels. This directive, which applies to tunnels in the trans-European road network, with lengths of over 500 metres, had to be transposed into national law by 30 April 2006. Greece and Luxembourg were sent a reasoned opinion in December 2006. However, according to the Commission, no appropriate national measures have been adopted by these countries in order to comply with the directive or the reasoned opinion. (aby)