Memorandum by the Freight Transport Association
The Freight Transport Association represents
the transport needs of UK industry. Its membership is comprised
of manufacturers, retailers, logistic companies, hauliers and
organisations in the public and private sector. The Association's
transport interests are multimodal and in addition to consigning
over 90 per cent of freight carried on rail and over 70 per cent
of sea and air freight its members operate in excess of 200,000
goods vehicles, approximately half the UK fleet.
The FTA has long recognised the importance of the
EU institutions in the development of legislation affecting the
freight industry and has maintained a permanent office in Brussels
since the late 1990s to manage its relations with all relevant
European actors.
1. The European Council, the Heads of State
and Governments, sets the main political agenda for the development
of legislation in the European Union. The most recent decision
would be the Climate Change declaration which has laid down targets
and goals to be achieved in policy areas relating to emissions,
biofuels etc.
2. The Lisbon Strategy is a good example
of a European Council declaration leading to further actions.
This declaration is directed at the Single Market and improving
the efficiencies of the European economy. This has led to the
"better regulation" programme that is designed to update
and simplify the Community acquis. The proposals for rewriting
the rules governing admission to the occupation of road haulage
operator (COM(2007)0263) stem from this initiative.
3. The Commission has many options open
to it regarding the generation of legislative proposals. Before
any proposals are drafted, the Commission can open a pre-proposal
consultation whereby all stakeholders are invited to respond and
submit their views on the possible courses of action to be taken.
After receiving the submissions the Commission will usually hold
a Stakeholder meeting to publicise the results and its initial
thoughts on future action. Work on the recently published Green
Paper on Urban Mobility is currently following this path.
4. The Commission may appoint an outside
Consultancy to gather and analyse information from Stakeholders
and make recommendations for future action. This is currently
the case with consultants requesting opinions on the possible
alteration of Directive 96/53/EC relating to weights and dimensions
of vehicles. If this is the case, the Commission always states
that the Consultant's Report is not the official views of the
Commission.
5. Under certain pieces of legislation,
the Commission can establish Consultative Committees and/or Expert
Working Groups to discuss technical developments to EU law. Much
the same way the British Parliament confers to the Executive the
right to draw up Regulations, based on an Act of Parliament. The
International Road Transport Union (IRU), the trade association
of trade associations in road freight, has a seat in these committees
due to its status as an official Social Partner and FTA plays
an active role through its membership of the IRU.
6. The Economic and Social Committee and
the Committee of the Regions are both official EU Institutions
and their views on all matters taken under the co-decision process
must be sought and heard. They have the right to advise but not
to legislate.
7. Judgements of the Court of Justice are
of prime importance as only the Court has the right to interpret
EU legislation. Decisions are binding.
8. Member States forming the Troika in the
Council of Ministers are in a position to influence the process
of initiation. When the Finnish government took over the Presidency
of the Council they exerted pressure on the Commission to look
at the subject of transport logistics. A public consultation was
held and an Action Plan was developed, which is currently the
basis of policy development in this area.
9. FTA played a key role in negotiations
with the UK government prior to holding of its Presidency on its
desire to simplify EU legislation under the Better Regulation
programme. We believe this was crucial to a change in policy direction
contained within the Mid-Term Review of the Transport White Paper
whereby the policy of modal shift was altered to one of co-modality.
10. The Presidency of the Council is an
important position in the development of EU legislation; Member
States can promote their own agendas during this period. However
stakeholders from the Member State holding the Presidency can
be at a disadvantage during this time as the Presidency should
not be seen to be promoting controversial or extreme positions
in legislative negotiations even if it is the position of that
Member State.
11. FTA believes that the Commission engages
with external stakeholders. In May 2007, the Commission readily
contributed to a FTA-IRU pan-European event on road freight enforcement.
12. FTA believes that the quality of proposals
varies widely. During final negotiations on Regulation 561 on
drivers' hours a specific clause on rest times was removed from
the official text. The European Parliament has since conducted
a study and has altered its opinion on its removal but has had
to use another piece of legislation, Operator Licensing Regulation,
as the vehicle to attempt to reinsert the clause.
13. Leading up to the introduction of the
digital tachograph into heavy goods vehicles FTA argued that the
technology was already outdated and could not be introduced in
accordance with the Commission's timings. FTA was ultimately proved
to be correct, which left industry in a position of intolerable
uncertainty where the Commission refused to act. This was eventually
resolved well after the initial introductory date when the Parliament
and Council, during the co-decision process, introduced a new
date into another piece of legislation to solve the problem.
8 April 2008
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