IRU Declaration on Alpine Transit Restrictions

IRU DECLARATION

ON ALPINE TRANSIT RESTRICTIONS

 adopted by the IRU Goods Transport Council in Bucharest on 29 May 2002

In accordance with the IRU’s priorities of facilitation and sustainable development, the restoration of unrestricted alpine transit through Austria, Switzerland and France is high on the IRU agenda.

The IRU acknowledges the importance of the protection of the population and the environment in sensitive regions, of which the Alps are but one example. In addition, it acknowledges the speed with which the Swiss authorities reopened the Gotthard tunnel.

But:

It is the obligation of all States having signed the Vienna Convention, the GATT agreement (Art.5), the EU-Switzerland bilateral agreement and the Amsterdam Treaty to ensure the free movement of goods while respecting the equilibrium between concerns about the environment, the social situation of people employed in the transport industry and road safety.

As a consequence, the IRU and its Member Associations cannot accept the arbitrary, discriminatory and unjustified restrictions introduced and upheld

in the Mont Blanc Tunnel, where the “ALTERNATING DOSAGE SYSTEM” for lorries strangles the exchange of goods between Italy and the rest of Europe.

in the St Gotthard Tunnel and on other North-South “E”-routes in Switzerland, where the “ALTERNATING DOSAGE SYSTEM” resulting in six-hours waiting time, in addition to hampering the exchange of goods, is responsible for totally inhuman, unsafe and insecure conditions for drivers and exacerbating the problems faced by local populations.

in Austria, where the current restrictive Ecopoint system should be modified to satisfy economic needs and the ECMT licenses should also be adapted to take better into account “green and safer” vehicles in addition to bilateral quota arrangements still reducing the possibilities for the optimal exchange of goods between South-East Europe/Italy on the one hand and the rest of Europe on the other.

Despite the political motives behind these unjustified restrictions, the real effects of these policies are that the economic lifelines of countries both to the North and the South of the Alps are being progressively strangled and discriminated against within the single European market, contrary to political objectives and hampering their integration in the single European market.

The IRU and its Member Associations cannot accept that the socio-economic and political objectives of closer Pan-European integration be threatened by neoprotectionist policies designed to defend narrow, local interests.

Using data gathered for the European Commission, the IRU made a conservative calculation that the extra costs for typical North-South freight movements are +12.5 %. However, the delays in Switzerland have become longer than assumed in that calculation and the extra costs for North-South transit through Switzerland are even higher, reaching up to 15%.

Contrary to political arguments, the restrictions bring neither safety nor environmental benefits. Rather, a scientific study conducted by SGKV and IFEU on energy consumption and CO₂ emissions by road transport shows that unrestricted transport through the Alps would decrease the CO₂ emissions by 30%. Furthermore, stressed drivers, longer transport distances and alternative mountainous itineraries create more pollution and more accidents.

The solution of intermodal or combined rail-road transport proposed by governments is unrealistic. Combined transport is a complementary mode which the road transport industry has always been willing to use. However, both the quality and the quantity of combined transport services currently available are totally insufficient.

The UNECE set up an ad hoc Multidisciplinary Group of Experts on Tunnel Safety, headed by the Swiss representative Michael Egger, following the tragic accidents in the Mont-Blanc and St. Gotthard Tunnels, which recommended, consistent with the calls of the IRU, the need for twin-tube tunnels on major routes to improve road safety.

The IRU therefore calls upon:

the governments of all the penalized countries to make representations to the Austrian, French and Swiss Governments, calling on them to respect their international obligations and to end counterproductive artificial restrictions on Alpine transit for road transport.

Transport operators to pass on the extra costs of the alpine restrictions to their clients.

International organisations and governments concerned to secure the free transit of goods through the Alps, respecting the equilibrium between social, environmental and safety concerns by reinforcing rules of access to the profession and by strengthening and harmonising control measures regarding road safety.

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