RECOMMENDATION FOR SECOND READING on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways as regards the conferral of delegated and implementing powers on the Commission for the adoption of certain measures

18.10.2016 - (09878/1/2016 – C8-0358/2016 – 2013/0226(COD)) - ***II

Committee on Transport and Tourism
Rapporteur: Bas Eickhout

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways as regards the conferral of delegated and implementing powers on the Commission for the adoption of certain measures

(09878/1/2016 – C8-0358/2016 – 2013/0226(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: second reading)

The European Parliament,

-  having regard to the Council position at first reading (09878/1/2016 - C8-0358/2016),

-  having regard to its position at first reading[1] on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2013)0484),

–  having regard to Article 294(7) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Rule 76 of its Rules of Procedure,

-  having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A8-0298/2016),

1.  Approves the Council position at first reading;

2.  Notes that the act is adopted in accordance with the Council position;

3.  Instructs its President to sign the act with the President of the Council, in accordance with Article 297(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

4.  Instructs its Secretary-General to sign the act, once it has been verified that all the procedures have been duly completed, and, in agreement with the Secretary-General of the Council, to arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

5.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

• [1]  Texts adopted of 11.3.2014, P7_TA(2014)0180.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Parliament’s priorities:

At first reading Parliament extended the scope of the Regulation on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways to passenger transport. Parliament believed that a successful policy to enhance the role of inland navigation within the transport sector should be based on reliable statistics encompassing both goods and passenger transport. Broadening the scope of the existing Regulation would put inland waterway transport on equal footing with maritime, air and road transport sectors for which statistical data are collected both for goods and passengers.

Parliament also supported the alignment of the regulation with the provisions of the Treaty (Article 290 and 291) as regards delegated and implementing powers conferred to the Commission. However, Parliament limited and better defined the powers conferred on the Commission.

Main achievements:

Parliament and Council agreed on considering the transport of passengers by inland waterways within the framework of the Regulation. They defined the first steps towards the integration of statistics on passenger transport data within the Regulation. Firstly, the Commission, in cooperation with Member States, will develop a methodology to compile statistics on passenger transport by inland waterways. As a second step, the Commission will launch voluntary pilot studies to test the feasibility of the new data collections. As a final step, the Commission will submit the results of these studies to the Parliament and the Council and consider making a proposal to revise the regulation. Financing of those pilot projects should be supported by the EU budget.

Parliament and Council agreed to limit the powers of the Commission to adopt delegated acts. Delegated acts should be adopted only to adapt the regulation to changes in coding and nomenclature at international level and increase thresholds. The duration of the delegation has been limited to five years. It should be noted that this Regulation is amongst the first pieces of legislation to implement the provisions related to delegated acts according to the Insterinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-making.

Negotiations:

Following the adoption of Parliament’s first reading position on 11 March 2014 and the decision of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) to open negotiations on 13 October 2014, an informal trilogue was organised under the Italian Presidency of the Council on 25 November 2014. Subsequent negotiations with the view to reach an early second reading agreement took place under the Latvian, Luxembourg and Dutch Presidencies. Parliament’s and Council’s negotiating teams reached an agreement through written procedure on the file on 11 May 2016. The outcome text of negotiations was approved by the TRAN Committee on 24 May 2016. On the basis of the Committee’s approval, the Chair of the TRAN Committee, in his letter to the Committee of Permanent Representatives, indicated that he will recommend to the Plenary to approve the Council’s position at first reading without amendments. Following a legal-linguistic verification, Council adopted its first reading position confirming the agreement of 18 July 2016.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Title	Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways as regards conferring of delegated and implementing powers upon the Commission for the adoption of certain measures
References	09878/1/2016 – C8-0358/2016 – 2013/0226(COD)
Date of Parliament’s first reading – P number	11.3.2014                     T7-0180/2014
Commission proposal	COM(2013)0484 - C7-0205/2013
Receipt of Council position at first reading announced in plenary	15.9.2016
Committee responsible        Date announced in plenary	TRAN 15.9.2016
Rapporteurs        Date appointed	Bas Eickhout 13.10.2014
Previous rapporteurs	Bas Eickhout
Discussed in committee	26.9.2016
Date adopted	11.10.2016
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	41 1 4
Members present for the final vote	Daniela Aiuto, Lucy Anderson, Marie-Christine Arnautu, Inés Ayala Sender, Georges Bach, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Deirdre Clune, Michael Cramer, Luis de Grandes Pascual, Andor Deli, Karima Delli, Isabella De Monte, Jacqueline Foster, Tania González Peñas, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Merja Kyllönen, Miltiadis Kyrkos, Bogusław Liberadzki, Peter Lundgren, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Georg Mayer, Gesine Meissner, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, Renaud Muselier, Markus Pieper, Salvatore Domenico Pogliese, Tomasz Piotr Poręba, Gabriele Preuß, Christine Revault D’Allonnes Bonnefoy, Dominique Riquet, Massimiliano Salini, David-Maria Sassoli, Claudia Schmidt, Jill Seymour, Claudia Țapardel, Keith Taylor, Pavel Telička, Evžen Tošenovský, Wim van de Camp, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Roberts Zīle, Kosma Złotowski, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska
Substitutes present for the final vote	Knut Fleckenstein, Maria Grapini
Substitutes under Rule 200(2) present for the final vote	Olle Ludvigsson
Date tabled	18.10.2016