§ Lord Gainfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the result of the Transport Council held in Brussels on 28th September.
The Earl of CaithnessThe Transport Council met in Brussels on 28th September. The United Kingdom was represented.
Political agreement was reached on the text of the directive on road haulage taxation and charging, and the regulation on road haulage cabotage to give effect to the conclusions reached at the Council in June.
The Council reached agreement on the regulation amending the regulation on a code of conduct for computer reservation systems; formal adoption will follow shortly. The regulation deals with a range of practical and competition issues which have become apparent since the original regulation was adopted. In particular, it aims to remove the scope for anticompetitive behaviour which might result if an airline were allowed to run a commercially available CRS system in close conjuction with its own in-house computer.
The Council discussed the Commission's communication on road safety. We stressed the considerable success the UK had achieved by action at local and national level and argued that Community action should be directed at improving vehicle safety standards rather than at harmonisation of speed and blood alcohol limits which took no account of differing road conditions and national attitudes.
The Council agreed to a general discussion of relations with Switzerland at the October General 59WA Affairs Council prior to consideration of negotiating mandates on air and road transport at the Transport Council in November.
In view of the significant restructuring taking place in some Member States the Council agreed that a debate on Community rail policy should be held at the Transport Council in November. We explained that the changes in the UK would separate rail infrastructure from services, encourage the involvement of the private sector and aim to reverse the decline in rail transport for both freight and passengers. We stressed the importance of implementation of the 1991 access directive, which the UK alone has implemented, and asked the Commission to examine the directive to consider how it would fair with the new industry structures.
The Council reached political agreement on slight modifications to the guidelines for Community trans-european networks for combined transport, roads and inland waterways agreed at the Council in June. Formal adoptation awaits the opinion of the European Parliament.
There were no votes taken.