Transport of dangerous goods by road: uniform procedures for checks

PURPOSE : to present a report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the Member States of Council Directive 95/50/EC on uniform procedures for checks on the transport of dangerous goods by road. CONTENT : Council Directive 95/50/EC on uniform procedures for checks on the transport of dangerous goods by road was adopted on 6 October 1995 and Member States had to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with it by 1 January 1997. Ths report from the Commission is based on the reports received from the Member States and it is the first report on the application of Council Directive 95/50/EC in the Member States. The Directive provides that each Member State shall send the Commission each calendar year not later than 12 months after the end of that year a report on the application of this Directive. Therefore, the first reports by Member States concerning the year 1997 had to be sent at the latest on 1 January 1999 and concerning the year 1998 at the latest on 1 January 2000. Directive 95/50/EC also provides that the Commission shall send the European Parliament and the Council for the first time in 1999 and subsequently at least every three years a report on the application of the Directive by the Member States. Due to the fact that not all the Member States fulfilled their obligation concerning the year 1997 and in order to get a more full picture of the situation on this field, the Commission wanted to include also the figures for 1998 in this report. Since the last date for the reports from the Member States for the year 1998 was 1 January 2000, the Commission could present this report only in 2000. The Commission feels however that this report, being more complete, is more useful and justifies its delay in production. In conclusion, on the basis of this report the Commission would like to stress that road checks are an effective tool in revealing the problems connected with the safety of the transport of dangerous goods and indirectly in improving it and therefore the Commission recommends that the level of checks in the Member States to be such that a vehicle should be checked at least once every 1000 journeys, on average. At the same time, the Commission would like to point out to the Member States that the harmonised infringement codes should be used in the reports.�