Brussels, 30/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's transport committee has unanimously approved (by 41 votes to 0 and one abstention) the own-initiative report by José Ortundo Larrea (ALDE, Spain) on the European Commission's communication of last October relating to European port policy (see EUROPE 9524). The report, which is to be voted in plenary in September, welcomes the communication but calls on the Commission to keep its announced commitments. MEPs above all call for the adoption of guidelines on state aid to ports as promised by the communication, by the end of the year. They also call for new European measures on ports, taking into account the importance of links between the ports and the hinterland. Maritime and river transport should be placed on an equal footing with other modes of transport, MEPs say, calling on the Commission to ensure that the mid-term review of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) due for 2010 integrates these two forms of transport with land transport via European ports. The committee also recommends that Community-cleared goods should be exempt from customs controls in short-sea shipping in the Community, and advocates creating separate port zones for intra-Community and international traffic. MEPs also challenge the American “House Resolution 1” law, which will render the scanning of 100% of containers intended for the United States compulsory as of July 2012, before they are loaded in the port of origin (see EUROPE 9680). They call on the Commission to assess the potential cost of this measure for enterprise and the European economy, as well as its impact on the way the customs system works. (A.By./transl.jl)