Council Resolution of 14 February 2000 on the promotion of intermodality and intermodal freight transport in the European Union
29. 2. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 56/1 I (Information) COUNCIL COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 14 February 2000 on the promotion of intermodality and intermodal freight transport in the European Union (2000/C 56/01) THE COUNCIL OF THE EURPEAN UNION, in-time logistics, electronic commerce)í with a view to developing actions consistent with the general goal of sustainable mobility. and Intermodal (1) WELCOMES the Commission Communication on Inter- modality in the European Union of October 1999 and the Communi- cation on the Progress of the the Implementation of Action Programme of June 1997 contained therein. Freight Transport (2) NOTES with satisfaction that most projects in the action programme have been lauchned and encourages the Commission to continue its implementation. (3) IS OF THE OPINION that functional and logistically efficient freight transport systems contribute to the development of economic activity within the Community for the benefit of its citizens and enterprises. (4) ENDORSES the objective set by the Commission to develop Intermodal Freight Transport, i. e. an optimal integration transport modes enabling an efficient and of different cost-effective use of system through transport seamless, customer-oriented door-to-door services, whilst favouring competition between transport operators. the (5) RECALLS that the Council strategy of 6 October 1999 on the integration of environment and sustainable devel- opment into the transport policy áunderlines that further progress is required, notably in the. promotion of. intermodal and combined transport the standard- isation and harmonisation of intermodal transport units. the competitiveness and the quality of services of ports and other intermodal terminals and railways, e. g. by the increased use of the different liability regimesí. (and the study of) telematics. short in this context, (7) REAFFIRMS its determination to promote transport modes in particular rail contributing to sustainable transport, sea shipping and inland navigations; transport, its conlcusions of 6 October RECALLS, 1999 on the revitalisation of the European railways referring, in particular, to the establsihment of a Trans- European Rail Freight Network (TERFN) and its Resolution of 11 March 1996 on short sea shipping (1), Conclusions of 18 June 1997 and Resolution of 14 February 2000 on the promotion of short sea shipping (2). framework of the Community as well as (8) RECALLS the importance of the revision of the relevant legal the importance of research, development and demonstration on intermodal transport and notes with satisfaction the role of studies in this field in key actions of the Fifth RTD Framework Programme established by Decision No 182/1999/EC (3). (9) INVITES all parties concerned to work actively towards a sound operational market environment for intermodal transport, so as to make intermodality, where feasible, a viable and environmentally friendly alternative to single mode road transport. (10) NOTES that further work must be concentrated on ident- in competing transport ifying obstacles to intermodal successfully in the market. (6) EMPHASISES, the need determined by the same strategy áto continue to analyse the relationship between transport (demand) and. the organisation of industrial production just- and services (globalisation, market deregulation, (1) OJ C 99, 2. 4. 1996, p. 1. (2) See page 1 of this Official Journal (3) OJ L 26, 1. 2. 1999, p. 1. C 56/2 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 29. 2. 2000 (11) INVITES the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, the promotion of intermodal transport including combined transport, in particular, by: to continue and intensify its work for (a) including intermodality in its revision of the TEN-T through reference to concrete actions with a view to achieving sustainable mobility, such as: - setting up new tools for assessing the ability of planned infrastructures and actions to transfer some road transport demand towards more envi- ronmentally friedly modes, - alleviating the bottlenecks for intermodalism, including those in the context of TERFN, - developing and optimising terminals for intermodal transport; (b) taking account of intermodalism with a view to creating a level playing field in the transport market when submitting, during the year 2000, a proposal for a revision of Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 of the Council of 4 June 1970 on the granting of aids for transport by rail, road and inland waterway (1) with regard to aid to combined transport; (c) integrating the information society into the European transport system, e. g. by submitting proposals for establishing an open architecture for data transfer and transport telematics; (d) contributing to the realisation of an open and efficient real-time information and transaction systems, as a tool for shippers and intermodal transport operators; (e) continuing, the together with the Member States, industry and relevant international organisations, its efforts to promote an appropriate liability regime in inter alia, by exploring the aspects of a that area, liability regime for transport and by intermodal presenting a report on the economic analysis of the consequences of the absence of a generally accepted liability regime and on the work being intermodal undertaken with the industry on the legal and economic advantages of the different solutions for a liability regime for intermodal transport; (1) OJ L 130, 15. 6. 1970, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 543/97 (OJ L 84, 26. 3. 1997, p. 6). intermodalism; (f) presenting a communication on Benchmarking in Transportí and developing key performance indicators for freight in this context, demon- strating the potential cost-effectiveness of intermodal and transport projects information on best practices, particularly taking into account the experience gained from the Pilot Actions for Combined Transport (PACT)-programme and the different projects under the Fifth RTD Framework Programme, and publishing examples of transport, (g) directing, when proposing measures in the field of transport, the measures to the logistic and transport system as a whole and not solely to the individual modes on harmonising the standards related to transport units and on technologies for cheaper, more efficient and environmentally friendly freight handling; to this end, presenting a communication on Supply Chain Management, transport by logistics and intermodal the end of year 2001; focusing, inter alia, (h) planning for an appropriate follow-up to the PACT programme, focussing on innovative projects; (i) extending the action programme on intermodality to more integrated Intelligent Transport System applica- tions, electronic commerce applications and demon- stration projects and (j) bolstering the role of projects on intermodal framework programmes. research and development in the RTD transport (12) INVITES the applicant countries to follow the above objectives and actions when formulating national and local strategies. (13) INTENDS to follow regularly the development transport intermodal freight modality European Union. and in inter- in the (14) INVITES the Commission to transmit to the Council, in 2001, its next progress progress report on intermodality and intermodal freight transport in the European Union, with possible proposals