Review article
Common european ports policy- past and recent measures in its formulation
Božena Bulum
Abstract
The paper analyses a common European seaports policy. The first step towards a European seaports policy was taken in 1974 with the establishment of a Port Working Group composed of the representatives of port authorities and chaired by the Commission. In 1977, it delivered report describing the legal and financial status of European ports. On the base of that report the Commission took the view that special measures for the port sector were unnecessary and that the common transport policy in itself was sufficient. In 1990s, the relations in ports drew renewed attention following a number of decisions by Court of Justice of the European Communities and Commission concerning restrictions of freedom to provide services as well as freedom of competition which are analysed in this paper. In 1997, in its Green Paper on Seaports and Maritime Infrastructure, the European Commission announced a community legal framework on the liberalisation of the port services market. After that the Commission was submitting to the Council of Ministers and European Parliament proposals for a Directive on market access to port services two times, but both times unsuccessfully. After the withdrawal of the Proposal II for a Directive on market access to port services the Commission launched consultations with stakeholders on a future European ports policy. It was decided to take a broader perspective in formulating common European ports policy by using soft-law instruments. In this direction, the Commission presented Communication on a European Ports Policy in October 2007 in which it announced a number of forthcoming measures and soft law instruments.
Keywords
common European ports policy; port services; market access; market competition; technical- nautical port services
Hrčak ID:
38221
URI
Publication date:
23.6.2009.
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