No L 4/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 8. 1. 80 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 7 December 1979 for the resolution of the dispute between the Kingdom of Denmark and the other Member States over the publication of reference tariffs for the cross- frontier carriage of goods by road (80/1/EEQC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2831/77 of 12 December 1977 on the fixing of rates for the carriage of goods by road between Member States ('), and in particular the second paragraph of Article 7 (2) thereof, Having regard to the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 16 of that Regulation, Whereas : I Denmark requested the Commission of the European Communities on 31 August 1979 in accordance with Article 7 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2831/77 to resolve, on the basis of the provisions of the second subparagraph of Article 6 (2) of that Regulation, the dispute which had arisen between it and the other Member States over the introduction of reference tariffs in the carriage of goods by road to and from Denmark which had been proposed by the profes- sional organizations within the industry. The Danish Government, which objected to the intro- duction of these tariffs, takes the view that the proposed tariff level is generally 10 % too high, and the surcharges on special vehicles 20 % more than they should be. () OJ No L 334, 24. 12. 1977, p. 22. The Government argues that this conclusion is borne out by a comparison of the effective freight charges in all markets where goods are carried by road between the other Member States and Denmark. In support of its claim that the proposed reference tariffs should be reduced by the aforesaid amounts advances the following arguments : (1) the Ministry of Transport, in cooperation with the Danish Association of Road Hauliers, the Trans- port Users Committee and the Association of Danish Forwarding Agents has investigated the extent of the difference between the market rates and the proposed reference tariff level ; (i1) the Transport Users’ Committee and the Associa- tion of Forwarding Agents have established that the tariff level is at least 30 % above the average market rates. Certain rates even exceed by more than 100 % the normally agreed freight rates ; (iii) the Ministry’s investigations, based on a study conducted in 1973, but which takes into account the interventing increase in costs, has shown that the tariff level exceeded the market rates in 1973 by 16 % and was 10 % above the level of rates at 1 July 1979. The other Governments have not accepted the Danish arguments, and maintain that, in view of the non-com- pulsory nature of the reference tariffs, an objection to the proposed measures s not justified under prevailing market conditions.