TRANSPORT COUNCIL APPROVES GENERAL APPROACH ON COUNTEMISSIONS EU
On 4 December, transport ministers of the EU Member States gathered in Brussels to adopt positions on certain legislative files and discuss recent developments including the Weights & Dimensions Directive, the implementation of ETS for maritime transport or the situation at the Polish/Ukraine border.
Ministers first approved their general approach on the CountEmissions EU proposal, setting an EU harmonised framework for the calculation and reporting on GHG emissions from transport services. The main elements of the Commission’s proposal were retained in the Council’s common position. The Council introduced, however, some amendments to the proposal, mainly aiming to prevent duplication of rules for the accounting of greenhouse gas emissions under several pieces of EU legislation (ETS, FuelEU Maritime for example) facilitate implementation of the regulation by SMEs and establish comprehensive and precise databases of default values for emission intensity and emission factors. Transport ministers also agreed to allow Member States to apply stricter rules on domestic transport operations, except those carried out by SMEs. Finally, the Council has also amended certain empowerments of the Commission so that Member States will be closely involved in the implementation of the Regulation.
Ministers also held an exchange of views on the current revision of the Weights & dimensions directive. The Spanish Presidency of the Council aimed to reach a general approach at this meeting but failed to reach a consensus on some provisions. Generally, Member States highlighted that this file should be dealt in conjunction with the revision of Combined Transport Directive.
Finally, ministers held two additional exchanges of views: First, the implementation of ETS for maritime transport as of 1st January 2024 was raised by several delegations, notably the potential negative consequences on certain EU ports close to non-EU borders which may lose traffic due to carriers avoiding these ports to reduce their overall ETS costs. Second, some Member States highlighted the situation at the Ukrainian/Polish border, where thousands of trucks are stranded due to a blockade organised by certain Polish hauliers. The Commission called on Poland and other EU neighbours to Ukraine to take necessary measures to ensure the borders remain open and respect the EU solidarity Lanes concept as well as the EU/Ukraine agreement facilitating road freight transport between them.
Source: Council of the EU