[autom.vertaling] Maritieme openbare dienst: de Commissie vereenvoudigt de regels van toepassing op kleine eilanden (en)
The Commission adopted a communication on maritime cabotage with a view to simplifying the rules concerning maritime public transport to or from small islands. "It is important to remove the administrative constraints on the Member State authorities responsible for services to small islands. The Commission's decision makes it possible to guarantee transparency and non-discrimination without encumbering procedures" said Loyola de Palacio - Vice-President with special responsibility for transport and energy. 40% of the islands will in future be granted exemptions.
The Communication on the interpretation of the Cabotage Regulation(1) adopted by the Commission clarifies the rules applicable to maritime public services and provides for simplified arrangements for the small islands.
The existing legislation applies the public service rules indiscriminately to islands, irrespective of their size. However, the situation of the islands which attract a large number of operators is very different from that of the small islands for which nobody is interested in providing a service. The Commission considers that public service contracts for maritime services to small islands should be awarded simply on the basis of a call for expressions of interest, rather than by the administratively cumbersome procedure of a formal invitation to tender. The contract duration may be twelve years, i.e. twice the normal duration.
For the purposes of maritime public services, the Commission defines small islands as those for which the annual maritime traffic is less than 100 000 passengers. This threshold will enable 40% of Community islands to benefit from simplified rules.
The Communication adopted also spells out the rules applicable to maritime estuaries. Maritime public services mainly concern islands. The Commission considers that public service obligations should also be imposable in the case of certain long estuaries, since inhabitants of the areas in question are no less isolated than island communities if the distance by road is such that inland transport is not an alternative to maritime transport. The Commission considers estuaries to be long where the sea crossing is at least ten times shorter than the corresponding land journey and provided that this land journey is in excess of 100 km.
This Communication does not address the compensation granted by the public authorities in return for the services in question; that issue will be dealt with by the Commission at a later date.
(1)Council Regulation (EEC) No 3577/92 of 7 December 1992 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport within Member States (maritime cabotage) OJ L 364, 12.12.1992, pp. 7 - 10. This communication sets out the Commission's interpretation of the various provisions of the Cabotage Regulation.