COMMISSION OPINION of 28 February 1973 addressed to the Government of the French Republic concerning a draft Ministerial decree implementing the SNCF tariff system for the transport of goods and a draft Decision relating to arrangements for the publication of the rates and charges applicable to transport by the SNCF, by road and by inland water-ways (73/254/EEC)

In accordance with Article 1 of the Council Decision of 21 March 1962 (1) instituting a procedure for prior examination and consultation in respect of certain laws, regulations and administrative provisions concerning transport, the French Government communicated to the Commission by letter of 11 January 1973 from the Office of its Permanent Representatives to the European Communities the text, along with an explanatory note, of a draft Ministerial decree implementing the tariff system of the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF) (French National Railways) for the transport of goods, and a draft Decision relating to arrangements for the publication of the rates and charges applicable to transport by SNCF, by road and by inland waterways. The letter from the Office of the Permanent Representatives reached the Commission on 15 January 1973 and the French Government has also notified the other Member States of the draft.

On the initiative of the Commission, a fact-finding meeting was held, with the representatives of the French government on 5 February 1973 in Brussels. In accordance with Article 2 (4) of the Council Decision and in agreement with the French government, the time-limit of one month provided in paragraph 1 of that article has been extended.

The Commission considered it unnecessary to consult the other Member States under the terms of Article 2 (3) of the Council Decision of 21 March 1962.

I

1. The written submission and the explanations given by the French representatives at the meeting referred to above, disclosed the following facts: - the text submitted for the Opinion of the Commission contain provisions implementing the new general operating conditions of the SNCF approved by Decree No 71-1024 of 23 December 1971 and Article 16 of Decree No 71-933 of 22 November 1971, amending the Decree of 14 November 1949 on the coordination and harmonization of rail and road transport;

- the texts have a two-fold object, namely : to provide the SNCF with a tariff system suitable for the running of an independent business which gained its autonomy as a result of the reform embodied in the text of the Supplement of 27 January 1971 to the Agreement of 31 August 1937 ; and to ensure equality of treatment between the three modes of inland transport as regards access to the market;

- those considerations have led the French Government to consider the possibility of applying a basic or reference tariff generally to all goods transported by the SNCF, except ECSC products, for which compulsory rates are retained;

- due to differences in the tariffing range of the three modes of inland transport, and to the difficulty in making arrangements for the publication of tariffs for road, and waterway traffic at present untariffed ; the French government has had to exempt the SNCF from the obligation to publish certain transport rates and charges;

- the arrangements proposed under the measures contained in the two drafts in question are provisional;

- the maximum spread of the tariff brackets of the SNCF which under Article 11 (1) of its general operating conditions, shall not exceed the maximum difference fixed by the Minister of Transport for the other competitive modes of transport and for the same category of goods, would appear to be 23 % in respect of all SNCF tariffs, even in cases where the other competitive modes of transport are not subject to tariffing.

II

Pursuant to Article 2 of the Council Decision of 21 March 1962 the Commission has, on the basis of general guidelines adopted by the Community institutions as regards tariff policy, issued the following Opinion; 2. The rules for the publication of rates and charges laid down in the two drafts under consideration in (1)OJ No 23, 3.4.1962, p. 720/62.

respect of the three modes of transport and the easing of regulations as regards private contracts entered into subject to the SNCF compulsory tariffing, where the SNCF is in competition with a transporter whose mode of transport is not subject to any compulsory tariff are undeniably directed towards the harmonization of conditions of competition with regard to tariffs.

However, the range of the measures provided for by the French government is not fully in accordance with the principles defined in the Council Agreement of 22 June 1965 both as regards the extent to which compulsory tariffing and the reference tariffs should apply to the different modes of transport and as regards the extent of publication.

On this last point the Commission notes that while the French Government is proposing to exempt the SNCF from the obligation to publish certain transport rates and charges, the Council Agreement of 22 June 1965 lays down that all rates and charges, even where there are no tariffs, relative to transport over a distance of more than 50 kilometres, shall, without exception, be published.

The Commission draws attention to the comments it made in that respect in its Opinion of 29 January 1971 (1) on the new operating articles and conditions of the SNCF.

Moreover the Commission points out that the proposed exemptions are more extensive than those on which it was called upon to comment on in that Opinion, and that they create an exception, in that they apply equally to SNCF transport which, in the field of international road transport, is subject to tariffing and to publication without exception.

3. As regards conditions under which road transport undertaking are authorized to fix prices outside tariff brackets, the Commission pointed out, in its Recommendation of 26 May 1971 on the amendment of the Decree of 14 November 1949 (2) on the coordination and harmonization of rail and road transport, that it could only appraise the tariff system applicable to road transport upon being consulted on the rules for fixing and publishing the appropriate rates and charges.

As the proposed measures only relate to rules of publication, the Commission therefore abides by its previous statement as regards rules for the fixing of rates and charges outside tariff brackets.

4. The Commission takes note of the statements made by the representatives of the French government to the system proposed in the two drafts submitted for consideration is only a transitory step in the move towards the subsequent harmonization of the tariff systems relating to all inland transport.

Under these conditions and subject to the comments made above, the Commission issues a favourable Opinion on the drafts in question.

III

5. The Commission shall inform the other Member States of this Opinion.

Done at Brussels, 28 February 1973.

For the Commission

The President

François-Xavier ORTOLI (1)OJ No L 32, 9.2.1971, p. 19. (2)OJ No L 134, 20.6.1971, p. 2.