if the EEC decides to go for 40 tons as
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a gross weight limit and ii tons as an axle limit, will this take effect as soon as we join the Common Market next year? 1 see that the DoE is opposing the changes; how soon are we likely to know whether they have been successful?
AThe 40-tonne and 11-tonne limits are among a whole package of weights and dimensions on which the EEC countries are trying to get agreement so that common standards will apply throughout. As pointed out in CM on August 25, some of the new member countries will be quite unable to accept an 11-tonne general limit (Norway, for example, is unlikely to be able to accept axle loads heavier than 9 tons even by the end of this decade).
The proposals for common weights and sizes which were agreed, in principle only, by the Council of Ministers in May are not intended to take effect until 1980, so whatever figures are finally agreed will give manufacturers and operators breathing space to plan for them. The position at the moment is that the Commission has prepared an advisory document on the weights proposals, and this is likely to form one of the bases for discussion at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers — scheduled for early October, though in fact likely to take place a little later.
Meanwhile, the permanent representatives in Brussels of the present member states will be meeting this month to discuss the whole weights and dimensions situation. If they cannot reach agreement on the proposed figures then the matter will be passed to the Ministers. Mr Peyton has made it clear that he is prepared to press the case at Ministerial level for retaining the 10-ton axle, and there is certainly provision for this in the legislation by which Britain is acceding to EEC membership. To sum up, then, a decision on common EEC weights and dimensions is likely to be taken by about the end of this year but most of the provisions will not become binding on member states until 1980 — and even then there will be some permitted exemptions.