COMMISSION OPINION of 16 March 1982 addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 954/79 of 15 May 1979 concerning the ratification by Member States of, or their accession to, the United Nations Convention on a Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences (82/210/EEC)

1. By letter dated 22 December 1981, the Shipping and Inland Navigation Administration of the Ministry of Transport sent to the Commission the following documents, for consultation purposes, under Article 6 of the abovementioned Regulation: - a preliminary draft law concerning the ratification of the United Nations Convention on a Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences, and

- a draft explanatory memorandum on this preliminary draft law.

2. The following comments are called for in the light of examination of these documents:

Preliminary draft

Article 1 In order to comply with Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 954/79 of 15 May 1979, the following should be added to Article 1 of the preliminary draft:

"subject to the provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 954/79 of 15 May 1979".

Article 4

This Article should include a statement that the term "national shipping line" in the case of a Member State of the European Economic Community includes any shipping line established on the territory of such Member State in accordance with the EEC Treaty and which satisfies the recognition requirements.

In addition, it should be made clearer in the explanatory memorandum that these companies must be granted equal treatment.

3. The Commission therefore hereby expresses a favourable opinion on the preliminary draft law and explanatory memorandum communicated to it, subject to the above comments, and taking into account the fact that the principles set out in point 2 are mentioned in the explanatory memorandum.

Done at Brussels, 16 March 1982.

For the Commission

Giorgios CONTOGEORGIS

Member of the Commission