| A. |
ATTENDANCE
|
|
1. |
The
first constitutive session of the Regional Road Transport Committee
established by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Facilitation
of International Road Transport of Goods in the SECI Region was
held on 12 and 13 October 1999 in Alexandroupolis (Greece). The
session was held in conjunction with the Meeting of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Working Group on Transport.
|
|
2. |
The session was co-chaired by
Mr. Y. Maniatis, Secretary General, Ministry of Transport and
Communications of Greece and Mr.M.Magold, UN/ECE secretariat.
|
|
3. |
The
session was attended by representatives of the following SECI
participating States: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia*, Greece, Hungary,
Romania, Slovenia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and
Turkey.
|
| 4. |
The following countries, members
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) participated at parts
of the session as observers: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and
the Russian Federation.
|
|
5. |
The session was also attended
by representatives of the following international organizations
participating as observers: European Commission, United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), European Conference of
Ministers of Transport (ECMT), Permanent International Secretariat
of BSEC, TINA secretariat (Transport Infrastructure Needs Assessment).
|
| B. |
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA
|
| 6. |
The Committee adopted its agenda
on the basis of a draft prepared by Greece, the European Commission
and the UN/ECE secretariat with the following modification proposed
by Croatia: Procedure for other SECI participating States to become
a Party to the MoU.
|
|
7. |
The Committee decided that agenda
items D to G should be for consideration by the ten Signatory
States to the MoU only. The representative of Croatia was
invited to attend as observer.
|
| C. |
NOMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
|
| 8. |
This agenda item was not discussed.
|
| D. |
RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE COMMITTEE
|
|
9. |
In accordance with article 12,
paragraph 2 of the MoU, the Committee considered and adopted its
rules of procedure on the basis of a draft prepared by Greece,
the European Commission and the UN/ECE secretariat. The rules
of procedure adopted by the Committee are contained in Annex I to this report.
|
| E. |
PROGRAMME OF WORK (ACTION PLAN
AND STRATEGIES) FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MOU
|
| 10. |
On the basis of a draft prepared
by the secretariat of the UN/ECE, the Committee considered and
adopted its programme of work (action plan and strategies) for
the implementation of the MoU as contained in Annex
II to this report.
|
| 11. |
The representative of Hungary
pointed out that in his view the deadline for accomplishment of
the provisions of article 3, paragraph 2 should not be the year
2002 as stipulated in article 11 of the MoU, but rather 2004 in
line with the provisions of article 13 of the MoU.
|
|
12. |
The Committee invited Turkey to
prepare a draft protocol on the gradual convergence of charging
policies as addressed in article 8 of the MoU, for consideration
at one of its next sessions.
|
| F. |
REVIEW OF RESERVATIONS TO ARTICLES
3 AND 8 OF THE MOU
|
| 13. |
The Committee was informed by
the representatives of Hungary and Slovenia that their countries
maintained the reservations to Article 3, paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and
4 (Hungary) as well as to Article 3, paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4
and Article 8, paragraph 3 (Slovenia) of the MoU respectively.
|
| G. |
PROCEDURE FOR OTHER SECI PARTICIPATING
STATES TO BECOME A PARTY TO THE MOU
|
| 14. |
In line with article 14 of the
MoU and on the basis of a draft prepared by the UN/ECE secretariat,
the Committee considered a procedure for other SECI participating
States to become a party to the MoU. The procedure adopted
by the Committee is contained in Annex III to this report. In this
context, the Committee welcomed the willingness of Croatia to
become a Party to the MoU in due course, following the conclusion
of necessary internal procedures.
|
| H. |
POSSIBILITIES FOR COOPERATION
WITH THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION (BSEC) MEMBER COUNTRIES
|
|
15. |
The Committee expressed its willingness
to cooperate with member countries of BSEC in the
facilitation of international road transport with a view to achieving
lasting stability and economic development in the region.
The institutional mechanisms for such cooperation would however
still need to be considered by the competent bodies.
|
| I. |
REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE
MOU
|
| (i) |
Identification of roads servicing
international traffic (E-Roads)
|
|
16. |
In line with its programme of
work, the Committee requested the secretariat of the UN/ECE to
transmit to all Parties of the MoU as well as to Croatia an updated
list of E-Roads serving international traffic as well as a questionnaire
on section of such roads to be identified in accordance with article
6 of the MoU. Countries were requested to return the completed
questionnaire to the UN/ECE secretariat by February 2000 at the
latest allowing the Committee to consider the relevant draft Protocol
to the MoU in early 2000.
|
| (ii) |
Preparation of an international
goods road vehicle weight certificate
|
|
17. |
he Committee took note of various
proposals for a goods road vehicle weight certificate prepared
by Bulgaria, Romania and the IRU in accordance with article 7
of the MoU. The representative of Turkey indicated that
he would also submit a proposal in this regard.
|
|
18. |
Noting that a number of technical
issues still needed to be clarified, such as weighing techniques
and certification procedures, the Committee welcomed the proposal
of Romania to prepare a new consolidated proposal for transmission
to the UN/ECE secretariat. This proposal would then
be transmitted to all Parties to the MoU as well as to Croatia
for further consideration at the national level and review at
the forthcoming session of the Committee in early 2000.
|
|
19. |
The Committee felt that the establishment
of a small technical task force charged with the preparation of
the technical aspects of the vehicle weight certificate should
be envisaged to enable the Committee, at its forthcoming session,
to consider a first draft of such a certificate, including all
relevant technical, legal and administrative provisions.
|
|
20. |
In this context the Committee
was informed that competent Working Parties of the UN/ECE (WP.30
and SC.1), taking into account the activities within SECI on the
vehicle weight certificate, had initiated consideration of such
a certificate for inclusion, in the form of a new annex, into
the United Nations Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier
Controls of Goods. The technical work currently undertaken
by the Committee on the certificate would certainly provide also
a valuable input for these UN/ECE activities.
|
| (iii) |
Progressive liberalization and
sustainability of international road transport
|
|
21. |
The Committee considered ways
and means of achieving the objectives of the provisions of article
3 of the MoU within the ambitious time frame provided for in the
MoU. It felt that, in particular, harmonized procedures
for the implementation of a quota free regime for "green"
and "greener and safer" road vehicles in line with the
relevant practices established in the framework of the ECMT had
to be considered as soon as possible to allow the Parties to the
MoU to make the necessary bilateral arrangements to this effect
before the end of 2000.
|
| (iv) |
Maintenance of an international
information system on charges
|
|
22. |
The Committee considered the information
elements to be included into the information system to be developed
in accordance with article 9 of the MoU. It felt that the
following data might be included into a regular questionnaire
to be issued every 6 months: Maximum permissible vehicle characteristics,
transportation costs in international road transport, particular
charges for excessive weight, map on the E-road network, incl.
information on permissible weight and dimensions, combined transport
services offered to road users, logistics and repair centres as
well as information on road transport control and enforcement
bodies also via linkages to other web sites.
|
|
23. |
The Committee was of the view
that the information system should be complementary to those already
available with the road transport industry, particularly
those of the International Road Transport Union (IRU), particularly
relating to information on safe parking areas, waiting times at
borders, etc.
|
| (v) |
Accession to international agreements
|
|
24. |
The Committee was informed of
the present status of accession by SECI participating States as
well as by BSEC member countries to the 16 road transport Agreements
as contained in the MoU (article 4 of the MoU). Annex IV to this report contains an overview
of the status of accession to these UN/ECE Agreements as contained
in the MoU.
|
| 25. |
The Committee invited all countries
to accede to these multilateral agreements as soon as possible
and requested the UN/ECE secretariat as well as other SECI participating
States to provide assistance in this respect, if appropriate.
|
| (vi) |
Review of charging policies in
the region
|
|
26. |
The Committee had an exchange
of views on possibilities on harmonizing charging policies for
international road transport in the region in accordance with
article 8 of the MoU). It decided to establish, as a first
step a report on the existing principles within the European Community
as well as on the procedures applicable in SECI countries taking
account of ongoing regional studies in this field. On the
basis of such a report to be considered at the next session of
the Committee, Greece and Turkey would prepared a concrete strategy
of complementing the MoU with relevant provisions for implementation
in the SECI region.
|
| (vii) |
Review of visa facilitation procedures
for professional drivers
|
|
27. |
The Committee considered some
existing practices in SECI participating States on the facilitation
of visa procedures in accordance with article 10 of the MoU and
took note of streamlined procedures in place in Bulgaria, Romania
and Turkey based on bilateral arrangements. The Committee
decided to make a review of existing practices in SECI participating
States on the basis of their written information for discussion
at the next session of the Committee.
|
| J. |
HOST AND VENUE OF THE SECOND
SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE
|
|
28. |
In addressing the provisions of
article 12, paragraph 2 of the MoU, the Committee welcomed the
proposal of Greece to host the session(s) of the Committee in
2000 and the initiative of Turkey to possibly act as host country
in 2001.
|
| K. |
FUTURE PROVISION OF SECRETARIAT
SERVICES
|
|
29. |
In accordance with article 12,
paragraph 2 of the MoU, the Committee welcomed that the UN/ECE
would continue, for the time being, to provide the required secretariat
services to the Committee.
|
| L. |
OTHER BUSINESS
|
|
30. |
The Committee expressed its appreciation
to the Greek Government, in particular the Ministry of Transport
and Communications, for the professional organization of the meeting
and for the warm hospitality extended to all delegations.
|
| M. |
ADOPTION OF THE REPORT
|
|
31. |
The Committee adopted the present
conclusions of its first session on the basis of a draft prepared
by the UN/ECE secretariat
|
| N. |
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
|
|
31. |
The list of participants is contained
in Annex V to this report.
|
|
|