EC/Croatia agreement: ecopoints to be applied to transit traffic through Austria

PURPOSE : to conclude the agreement between the EC and Croatia concerning the ecopoints system to be applied to Croatian transit traffic through Austria. LEGISLATIVE ACT : Council Decision 2003/740/EC concerning the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the Republic of Croatia concerning the system of ecopoints to be applied to Croatian transit traffic through Austria as from 1 January 2003. CONTENT : the Council adopted a Decision approving the Agreement with Croatia concerning the ecopoints system to be applied to Croatian road haulage transiting through Austria. The Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the Republic of Croatia concerning the system of ecopoints to be applied to Croatian transit traffic through Austria as from 1 January 2003 is hereby approved on behalf of the Community. In accordance with this agreement, the method of calculation and the detailed rules and procedures for the management and control of the ecopoints are to be agreed by means of an exchange of letters between the Contracting Parties, and will be in line with the provisions of Protocol 9 to the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union regulating the ecopoints system applying in the Community. The Agreement establishes the number of ecopoints allocated to Croatian trucks for 2003 on the basis of the "no less favourable treatment for Community heavy goods vehicles" principle. It also provides for appropriate documents, rules of procedure and methods of control for managing the system. ENTRY INTO FORCE : the agreement shall enter into force when all the parties have been notified of all the necessary procedures to this effect. Croatia signed the agreement on 1 August 2003 and it was signed on behalf of the Community on 23 July 2003.�