Twenty first annual report and resolutions of the council of ministers, year 1974

375 Pages·1975·15.491 MB·English

by  OECD

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF TRANSPORT
TWENTY FIRST
ANNUAL REPORT
AND
RESOLUTIONS
OF THE
COUNCIL
YEAR 1974
WIEN, 19th/20th JUNE 1974
PARIS, 3rd DECEMBER 1974
Public en trancais sous le titre:
21e RAPPORT ANNUEL
ET RESOLUTIONS
DU CONSEIL DES MINISTRES
ANNEE 1974
EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF TRANSPORT
TWENTY FIRST
ANNUAL REPORT
AND
RESOLUTIONS
OF THE
UNCIL
INISTERS
YEAR 1974
WIEN, 19th/20th JUNE 1974
PARIS, 3rd DECEMBER 1974
The European Conference'ofMinisters ofTransport (ECMT) was
instituted by a Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th October, 1953. It
comprises the Ministers of Transport of the following 18 countries:
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzer¬
land, Turkey, United Kingdom and Yugoslavia (associated countries :
Australia, Canada, Japan ; observer : UnitedStates).
The purposes of the ECMT are:
to take whatever measures may be necessary to achieve, at
general or regional level, the maximum use and most rational
development of European inland transport of international
importance;
to co-ordinate andpromote the activities ofInternational Orga¬
nisations concerned with European inland transport (rail, road,
navigable ways), taking into account the work ofsupranational
authorities in this field.
ECMT publications are marketed by the Sale of Publications
departmentoftheOECD,2,rueAndre-Pascal,75775PARISCEDEX16.
CONTENTS
Parti
TWENTY FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
Part II
RESOLUTIONS
General problems:
RESOLUTION No. 27 AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING RESOLUTION No. 16 CONCERNING
THE REGULATIONS GOVERNING INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT BY ROAD AND THE
LIBERALIZATION OF CERTAIN TYPES OF SUCH TRANSPORT (cid:9) 49
RESOLUTION No. 28 CONCERNING THE INSTITUTION OF A PROCEDURE FOR EXCHANGING
INFORMATION ON INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT PROJECTS OF EUROPEAN INTEREST . 57
RESOLUTION No. 29 ON THE APPLICATION OF THE MULTILATERAL QUOTA FOR
INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT OF GOODS BY ROAD (cid:9) 63
RESOLUTION No. 30 ON ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF TRANSPORT OF UNACCOMPANIED
TRAILERS AND SEMI-TRAILERS (cid:9) 65
Road transport:
RESOLUTION No. 29 CONCERNING FIRST STEPS TOWARDS EUROPEAN-WIDE
HARMONIZATION OF GENERAL SPEED LIMITS OUTSIDE BUILT-UP AREAS (cid:9) 71
RESOLUTION No. 30 CONCERNING FIRST STEPS TOWARDS EUROPEAN-WIDE
HARMONIZATION OF GENERAL SPEED LIMITS ON MOTORWAYS OUTSIDE BUILT-UP
AREAS (cid:9) 77
RESOLUTION No. 31 ON ROAD SAFETY PROBLEMS CONCERNING TWO-WHEELED
VEHICLES (cid:9) 79
RESOLUTION No. 32 ON OBSTACLES AFFECTING INTERNATIONAL ROAD FREIGHT
TRANSPORT WHEN CROSSING FRONTIERS (cid:9) ,(cid:9) 121
Part in
CONCLUSIONS ON ROAD TRAFFIC RULES AND ROADS SIGNS AND SIGNALS ADOPTED
BY THE MINISTERS (cid:9) 133
REPORT ON THE TOPICS LISTED IN THE PROGRAMME OF WORK OF THE COMMITTEE .
FOR ROAD TRAFFIC, SIGNS AND SIGNALS (cid:9) 135
Part IV
REPORTS APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
REPORT ON PROBLEMS RELATING TO COMBINED TRANSPORT (cid:9) 163
REPORT ON THE CONCEPT OF THE COMMON INTEREST OF THE RAILWAYS WITH
REGARD TO THEIR COMMERCIAL APPROACH (cid:9) 211
INTERIM REPORT ON PUBLIC SERVICE OBLIGATIONS (cid:9) 217
REPORT ON THE USE OF OTHER TRANSPORT TECHNIQUES BY THE RAILWAYS (cid:9) 229
REPORT ON THE APPLICATION OF DOMESTIC REGULATIONS TO FOREIGN DRIVERS ... 233
TREND OF ROAD ACCIDENTS AND BREAKDOWN OF CASUALTIES - YEAR 1973 (cid:9) 239
REPORT ON TRAFFIC AND INVESTMENTS TRENDS IN 1973 (cid:9) 277
Annex (cid:9) 362
Annexes
1. List of Officers of the ECMT (cid:9) 365
2. List of delegates at the Vienna and Paris Conference (cid:9) 3gg
Part I
TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
[CM(75)l]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. GENERAL REVIEW OF THE PROCEEDING OF THE CONFERENCE
AND OF ITS EXTERNAL RELATIONS (cid:9) 7
II. GENERAL TRANSPORT POLICY (cid:9) 9
A. Action taken by the ECMT (cid:9) 9
B. Action at national level (cid:9) 12
III. ECONOMIC RESEARCH (cid:9) 14
IV. RAILWAY PROBLEMS (cid:9) 19
A. General activities (cid:9) 19
B. Normalization of accounts (cid:9) 22
C. Developments concerning public service obligations and steps taken to put the
railways on a more strictly commercial footing (cid:9) 25
D. Activities of the Eurofima Company (cid:9) 26
V. PROBLEMS CONCERNING ROADS AND ROAD TRANSPORT(cid:9) 29
A. Road transport (cid:9) 29
B. European road system (cid:9) 33
C. Co-ordination of road traffic rules and road signs and signals (cid:9) 34
D. Road safety problems (cid:9) 35
VI. INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT PROBLEMS (cid:9) 40
VII. COMBINED TRANSPORT PROBLEMS (cid:9) 41
VIII. URBAN TRANSPORT PROBLEMS (cid:9) 42
Chapter I
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE
AND OF ITS EXTERNAL RELATIONS
In 1974, as in previous years, the Council of Ministers of the Conference held two meetings: the
first (39th session) was held in Vienna, on 19th and 20th June; the second (40th session) in Paris on
3rd December.
The Officers of the Conference were the Austrian Minister of Transport (Chairman) the Danish
Minister of Public Works (1st Vice-Chairman) and the French Minister of Transport (2nd Vice-
Chairman); at the 40th session, new Officers were elected for the coming year.
The new Officers are the Danish Minister of Public Works (Chairman); the French Secretary of
State for Transport (1st Vice-chairman) and the Greek Minister of Transport and Communications
(2nd Vice-Chairman).
The Committee of Deputies held six sessions in 1974; on 8th January, 25th-26th April, 19th June,
9th July, 29th-30th October and 2nd December.
The following standing Committees helped it in its work:
- the Investment Committee which, assisted by three Sub-Committees (for railways, roads and
inland waterways), carried out a series of studies in the field of transport economics, dealing
in particular with forecasting and transport infrastructure networks. It produces yearly reports
" on Member countries' transport investment and transport output (see Part II);
- the Railways Committee;
- the Road Transport Committee;
- The Inland Waterways Transport Committee;
- the Committee for Road Traffic, Signs and Signals, setup in 1972 by extending the membership
of Restricted Group "B" to include all delegations;
- the Road Safety Committee;
- the Urban Transport Committee;
the Economic Research Committee.
The Committee of Deputies was also assisted by several Working Groups: the General Policy Group,
responsible for ensuring the co-ordination of multilateral efforts required for the gradual integration
of national transport policies; the Combined Transport Group, and the High-Speed Transport Group.
And ad hoc Group was appointed to consider the implications of the construction of the Channel
Tunnel for the European Transport System, with special reference to infrastructural adjustments need¬
ed to match the new situation.
Another ad hoc Group, reporting to the Railways Committee, has been concerned for some years
withproblems relating to the financing of automatic coupling.
In 1974, the state of affairs resulting from oil supply conditions prompted governments to give very
careful attention to every aspect of the energy factor in an economic and social context. The ECMT
accordingly judged it essential to appoint a workingparty to look into transportproblems bound up with
the energy situation.
Generally speaking, as in previous years, the Conference's various committees made much use of
the work of Groups of Rapporteurs, composed of representatives of four or five countries, who are
appointed to draw up basic working documents on specific topics.
Only one Restricted Group now remains, Restricted Group "A", is composed of the Ministers of
Transport of the European Communities (EEC), the function of which is to maintain liaison between the
Member countries of the Communities and other ECMT countries. This group met twice in 1974,
immediately before each session of the Council of Ministers, to approve the reports which its Chairman
presented to the Council's plenary session on the activities of the EEC since the last report.
In order to promote more fruitful discussionbetween Member countries of the EEC Communities
and the other countries, the draft of those reports have, since 1971, been examined by the Committee
of Deputies inplenary session.
The organisation chart of the ECMT is shown in Annex I.
Relations with other international organisations in 1974 were highly satisfactory.
As inprevious years, the OECD made available to the ECMT the practical working facilities provid-
ded for in the agreement concluded between OEEC and the ECMT in 1954, and renewed in 1961 when the
OECD was set up.
The ECMT wishes to express its special gratitude to the OECD for its support. The OECD/ECMT
Liaison Committees, appointed to examine matters of joint interest, had no occasion to meet in 1974
but a meeting is planned for 1975.
The OECD, inpartnership with the ECMT and the EEC, continued the study on inter-city transport
known as "Project 33". Twelve Member countries of the ECMT are takingpart in this study, the guide¬
lines for which are laid down by a Steering Committee on which those countries and the above-mentioned
organisations are represented.
The ECMT's relations with the Council of Europe remain very close; the staffs of both organisations
are in regular contact on a basis of mutual confidence. Inparticular, programmes of work are carefully
examined and prepared each year so as to avoid duplication of work and co-operate effectively in matters
of joint interest.
These include regional planning. A member of the ECMT Secretariat attended several meetings
arranged by the Council of Europe to prepare the Third Conference of Ministers responsible for this
subject.
In September 1974, a Conference of education and transport experts was organised jointly by the
Council of Europe and the ECMT to consider how the recommendations of the 1971 Conference (sponsor¬
ed by these two bodies) on road safety education in schools has been applied. Additional conclusions
were formulated on this occasion. More details are given further on in this report.
The Director of the Transport Division of the Economic Commission for Europe attended the meetings
of the Committee of Deputies except the more procedural meetings immediately preceding those of the
Council. He was also represented at some meetings of ECMT subsidiary bodies. The ECMT, on its
own side, attended the annual meeting of the Inland Transport Committee of ECE, and some meetings
of its specialized committees of working parties.
On various topics relating to roads the ECMT did preparatory work that the ECE was able to use for
the conclusion of agreements involving all European Countries.
Generally speaking, it is clear that, thanks to contacts throughout the year, there is active co¬
operation between the two bodies. This enables the ECMT to use some of the basic studies conducted
in Geneva to supportpolicy conclusions submitted to the Council of Ministers.
Relations between the Conference and the European Communities were further strengthened in 1974.
The Secretariats of the ECMT and Commission kept in touch with each other, and the Commission's
Director - General of Transport - attended, or was represented at, meetings of the Committee of
Deputies.