The European Parliament adopted by 529 votes to 42, with 16 abstentions, a legislative resolution amending, under the first reading of the codecision procedure, the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other transport modes.
The main amendments are as follows:
Subject matter and scope: the Parliament wishes to clarify that the directive establishes a framework for the coordinated and coherent deployment and use of intelligent transport systems, including interoperable ITS, within the Community and the development of the specifications necessary for that purpose. MEPs also clarified that the directive shall apply to all intelligent transport systems for travellers, vehicles and infrastructure and their interaction in the field of road transport, including urban transport. It is essential to include also the vulnerable transport users under the scope of the directive.
MEPs have excluded from the scope of the Directive, requirements of the Member States related to public order and public security.
The resolution also stresses that it is important to define the minimum level of ITS applications and services that may be deployed, implemented and used by all the Member States.
Deployment of ITS: where possible, Member States shall ensure the backward compatibility of ITS applications and services within the Community. They shall apply ITS to all modes of transport and to the interfaces between them, ensuring a high level of integration between all transport modes. They shall also avoid creating geographical fragmentation and discontinuity.
Moreover, MEPs believe it is essential that Members States take the necessary measures for requiring the compliance with the basic principals set (effectiveness, cost-efficiency, geographical continuity, interoperability and degree of maturity) for the evaluation of needs. Member States shall also take account of the morphological particularities of geographically isolated regions and the distances that have to be covered to reach them, making an exception if need be to the cost-efficiency ratio principle.
Specifications: the Commission shall define, under the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, specifications for the obligatory deployment and use of the minimum level of ITS applications and services, in particular in the following areas:
- the provision of EU-wide real-time traffic and travel information services;
- data and procedures for the provision of free minimum universal traffic information services;
- the harmonised introduction of eCall throughout Europe;
- appropriate measures on secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles and on telematics-controlled parking and reservation systems.
The Commission shall also define specifications for the necessary deployment and use of ITS beyond the minimum level of ITS applications and services in the case of Community co-financed TERN construction or maintenance.
The specifications shall also determine the conditions under which Member States may, in conjunction with the Commission, impose additional rules for the provision of such services throughout or in part of their territory.
Before adopting the specifications, the Commission should conduct an impact assessment comprising a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis for the implementing measures provided in the directive. The impact assessment would address issues of additional economic costs to be borne by the economic actors and parameters related to the economic cycle of the ITS.
Type-approval of equipment: ITS equipment and software may be placed on the market and put into service only if, when properly installed and maintained and used for their intended purpose, they do not endanger the health and safety of persons and the environment, in accordance with relevant Community legislation, and, where appropriate, property.
Committee on technical standards and regulations: an amendment aims to enhance the standardisation of ITS and would provide the possibility of using the Standing Committee and the procedure referred to in Article 5 of Directive 98/34/EC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services.
Rules on privacy: in order to ensure privacy, the use of anonymous data shall be encouraged, where appropriate, for the performance of the ITS application and/or service. Personal data shall only be processed insofar as processing is necessary for the performance of the ITS application and/or service.
Where special categories of data referred to in Directive 95/46/EC are involved, such data shall only be processed where the data subject has given his or her explicit consent to the processing of those data on an informed basis. Moreover, the data may not be used for purposes other than those referred to in the directive.
Consistency: the Commission shall prepare an annual work programme on the basis of the core elements set out in Annex II to this Directive and for the first time three months at the latest after the entry into force of this Directive. It shall, in close cooperation with the Member States, ensure general consistency and complementarity of ITS deployment with other relevant Community policies, programmes and actions, thus enhancing synergies and the effectiveness of EC policies.
Transparency: the Commission should enhance adequate participation of ITS stakeholders in the European ITS Advisory Group. The work of the European ITS Advisory Group shall be carried out in a transparent manner.
The Commission shall report bi-annually to the European Parliament and to the Council on the status of funding, and, if necessary, shall make a proposal for the financial basis of the implementation of the minimum level of ITS applications and services.