COMMISSION OPINION of 24 January 1973 addressed to the French Government on a Draft Law amending and supplementing, in the interests of road safety, Order No 58 1310 of 23 December 1958 concerning working conditions in public and private road transport (73/117/EEC)

1. Pursuant to Article 18 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 543/69 (1) of 25 March 1969 and Article 21 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1463/70 (2) of 20 July 1970, the French Government notified the Commission by letter dated 18 October 1972 of a Draft Law amending and supplementing, in the interests of road safety, Order No 58 1310 of 23 December 1958 concerning working conditions in public and private road transport. The purpose of this Draft Law is to supplement existing provisions on controls and penalties to ensure compliance with the abovementioned Community Regulations.

The Draft Law includes the following provisions: - Article 1 authorizes additional categories of officials or agents to establish that breaches of the rules and regulations on driving time and rest periods in road transport have occurred;

- Article 2 makes provision for the imposition of administrative penalties - impounding of vehicles, temporary or definitive withdrawal of "Licences de transports" or "cartes grises" - on enterprises found guilty of repeated contraventions of the regulations ; it also makes provision for apportioning responsibility for breaches of the regulations between paid drivers and their employers.

2. The Commission finds that the proposed text meets the requirements of Regulations (EEC) No 543/69 and (EEC) No 1463/70 and hereby delivers a favourable Opinion on this Draft Law.

Done at Brussels, 24 January 1973.

For the Commission

The President

François-Xavier ORTOLI (1)OJ No L 77, 29.3.1969, p. 49. (2)OJ No L 164, 27.7.1970, p. 1.