17-18 June Transport Council

Date: 26/06/1997

AGREEMENT was reached on proposals for tachographs which will monitor the hours EU drivers spend behind the wheel and the speed at which they travel. New lorries and coaches registered after July 2000 will be required to carry the digital device. Plans to fit the latest technology in vehicles already on the road were dropped, which means that the up-to-date equipment will not be installed in all EU trucks and coaches until the end of 2010. But old vehicles on which existing tachographs need replacing will have to be fitted with the new-style ones.

TRANSPORT Commissioner Neil Kinnock gave ministers details of a plan to set up an EU strategy and framework for deploying road transport telematics.

MEASURES to check the safety of non-EU aircraft landing at Union airports were agreed in principle by ministers. Where there are concerns that international safety standards are not being met, aeroplanes and their crews will be subject to inspections and grounded where necessary to ensure 'immediate safety'. The UK, Germany and Sweden had wanted the same regulations to apply to EU aircraft, but were satisfied with a reference to existing separate rules which are as rigorous.

SUPPORT was expressed for the setting up of a European Aviation Safety Authority to maintain and improve standards throughout Europe. The Council said it would clarify its views on the extent of Union involvement in the body, as well as how it would negotiate with non-EU European countries on its establishment, by the end of the year.

FOLLOWING the lifting of a UK reserve on the EU's membership of Eurocontrol, the European organisation for the safety of air navigation, significant progress was made. Ministers agreed in principle that the EU should be a member and that member governments wishing to sign the new Eurocontrol convention on 27 June could do so as long as it was understood that this did not impinge on the exclusive competences of the Union in certain areas. It was felt that EU membership of Eurocontrol would ensure that future air traffic management policies were consistent with those of the Union.

MINISTERS expressed their support for the progress made on the trans-European rail freight freeways. The first North/South freight freeway will operate from January next year. The Scandinavian countries asked formally to join with Italy, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands in planning the first routes.

TALKS on the tolls and fees which trucks and lorries should pay for using EU motorways were inconclusive. Governments generally agreed there should be some differentiation, but could not agree on the levels of charges or the scope of the derogations.

A DRAFT directive which would make the registration of all passengers on ships compulsory from 1 January 1999 was agreed by ministers. Its aim is to ensure that the number of people on board does not exceed maximum capacity, and to give emergency services vital information in the event of an accident.

THE Council backed the European Commission in its opposition to the Russian government's practice of making EU airlines pay compensation to Aeroflot when they fly over Russian territory in Siberia.