Transport of dangerous goods by road, inland waterways or rail: examination requirements for safety advisers

This Commission proposal for a directive springs directly from Directive 96/35/EC, which laid down rules concerning the appointment and vocational qualification of the advisers mentioned above. But Directive 96/35 does not include any specific provisions concerning the harmonisation of examination requirements. In order to ensure a uniform, high level of training for safety advisers and likewise to avoid unequal training costs an hence an impact on competition between undetrakings in the member states, harmonisation is thus needed in practice. The Commission proposal seeks to ensure uniformity in the training of safety advisers. It lays down the minimal scope of the examinations and it spells out the tasks of the competent authority and requirements to examination bodies. A number of mainly technical amendments has been tabled, one of which demanding that the directive must be transposed in national law by 30 June 1999. This would enable safety advisers who have been examined in accordance with the proposed directive to be employed with effect from 1 January 2000. Other amendments demand that candidates must demonstrate in a case study that they have the ability to fulfil the tasks of an adviser and that the EC certificate of training clearly indicates that it is valid only for the specific dangerous goods for which the adviser has been examined.�