EEA Agreement: amending annex XIII (transport)

OBJECTIVE: to amend Annex XIII (transport) to the EEA Agreement in order to integrate recent Community legislation in this field. SUBSTANCE: in order to ensure the requisite legal security and homogeneity, the EEA Joint Committee is to integrate all the relevant Community legislation into the EEA Agreement as soon as possible after its adoption. Council Regulation (EC) No 2894/94 concerning the arrangements for implementing the EEA Agreement lays down that the Council, after consulting the European Parliament, is to establish to Community position for decisions extending Community legislation by means of substantial changes. The draft decision particularly seeks to extend to the EEA Agreement: -the Act concerning the conditions of accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the Union and the consequent adjustments of the EU Treaties, -Commission Regulation (EC) No 3298/94 laying down detailed measures concerning the system of rights of transit (Ecopoints) for heavy goods vehicles transiting Austria, and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1524/96 amending this Regulation. No transitional or derogation period is provided for. The proposal for a decision lays down measures relating to Ecopoints for the EEA and EFTA countries which are comparable to the Community system. As substantial amendments are envisaged in order to incorporate these measures into the EEA Agreement, it is proposed that the Council indicate its agreement to the draft decision of the EEA Joint Committee as a Community position.�