Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-18-Speech-3-394"
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"en.20080618.28.3-394"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is not exactly crowded in here. I would have thought this would have been an important enough subject to bring more people in. The second reading on the Directive on the inland transport of dangerous goods prompts me, yet again, to draw attention to a major problem, namely that any directive is only as good as its control.
We have a slight increase in the volume of dangerous goods being transported across all modes of transport. Unfortunately, we are also seeing an increase in carelessness, according to inspectors, notably in the declaration of goods. A false declaration of a dangerous good that is being transported can literally have deadly outcomes if an accident occurs. For example, if the fire service is unable to determine which extinguishing agent they need for the good being transported, this can have fatal consequences. In Innsbruck, which is almost my home town, a large-scale disaster was narrowly averted simply because the region's senior chemist happened to be a part-time fireman. I urge you, then, to keep the issue of control and inspection in mind as well. This is a core issue; indeed, it is the most important issue, and I voice the same appeal to Member States as well.
I do see an improvement through the inclusion of inland shipping. An accident involving the transportation of chemicals by river can have extremely long-term and fatal consequences for the environment.
I think it is important to retain and reinforce provisions on the prescribing of certain routes for the transport of dangerous goods. When there are steep hills and inclines, perhaps combined with very heavy traffic at certain times of the year or at the start of the holidays, it is essential to guard against major hazards here. In my view, it would be right and proper to extend the escort requirement for particularly dangerous goods here, such as corrosive substances or explosives. We need to make further progress on this issue because other transport users could also be put at risk and major problems would arise in the event of an accident. Unfortunately, the inspections which are carried out often reveal, too, that the condition of the vehicles in use is not particularly good.
I would therefore like to conclude with an appeal to the House: inspections and controls are needed to safeguard the effectiveness of this directive."@en1
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