§ Mr. Fitchasked the Secretary of State for Transport what decisions were made at the meeting of EEC Council of Transport Ministers which was held in Luxem- 384W bourg on 28th and 29th June; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. William RodgersThe three main items on the agenda of the Council were the proposed amendments to EEC Regulation 543/69 on bus and lorry drivers' hours of work; a report on the progress achieved during the United Kingdom Presidency on the development of a Community regime for whole vehicle type approval of passenger cars; and a Presidency paper on the future objectives and priorities of the common transport policy. The agenda also included shipping and civil aviation items.
The item of greatest immediate importance to the United Kingdom was the proposal on drivers' hours. The Council provisionally agreed a number of amendments to the original regulation (543/69), notably on a limited number of national exemptions from the provisions of the regulation for various classes of vehicles, including minibuses. I regret, however, that it proved impossible, because of a continuing French objection of principle, to agree to the staged introduction of the regulation for domestic traffic in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Further discussions will take place over the next few months and I still hope that a satisfactory compromise solution can be found.
The Presidency paper on the future development of the common transport policy was designed to stimulate a wide-ranging debate on the major transport issues now confronting the Community. The Council welcomed my initiative as the first step in a thorough reappraisal of how the common transport policy should develop in the Community. As a result of our discussion, and the papers which other Ministers put to the Council, the Commission has been asked to review its 1973 Communication to the Council and to bring new proposals forward for further discussion by Ministers later in the year.
On the third major item, the development of a Community regime for the whole vehicle type approval of passenger cars, the Council adopted a resolution which took note of the substantial progress which had now been made towards the completion of this regime. It instructed the Committee of Permanent Representatives to press on with the 385W completion of the relatively small number of outstanding technical directives which have still to be finalised, and to intensify its study of the full implications of implementing the system, including in particular the commercial and industrial ones. It also asked the Commission to convene a meeting at an early date between representatives of the member States and the Community motor vehicle industries to examine how the system might best be operated in practice.
Finally, the Council reached agreement on establishing a consultation procedure within the Community on shipping matters, and agreed that formal discussion of civil aviation matters should begin under the aegis of the Council.