Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Hellenic Republic on International Road Transport of Passengers and Goods

The Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Hellenic Republic, hereafter called the Contracting Parties,

Desiring the promotion of international co-operation and in the field of road transport between their two countries and in transit through their territories,

Inspired by the principle of liberalisation regarding international road transport,

Have agreed as follows:

Article 1

The dispositions of this Agreement apply to :

1. The international road transport of passengers and goods for hire, reward or on one's own account between the territories of the two Contracting Parties and the transit through them.

2. The journey of empty vehicles in connection with the above mentioned transport.

Article 2

For the purpose of this Agreement:

1. The term "carrier" means a physical or legal person established in either territory of the Contracting Parties who has the right to carry out international transport of passengers or goods by road, conforming to the laws and regulations in force in its country.

2. The term "vehicle" means a motor vehicle or a combination of vehicles of which at least the motor vehicle is registered in either territory of the Contracting Parties and which is used and equipped exclusively for the carriage of passengers or goods.

3. The term "transit" means the transport of passengers or goods effected by a carrier of either Contracting Party performed by vehicles registered in the same country through the territory of the other Contracting Party without passengers being taken up and set down or loading and unloading.

I. TRANSPORT OF PASSENGERS

Article 3

For the purpose of transport of passengers:

1. "Passenger motor vehicle" means any power driven vehicle (a bus or a coach) registered in the territory of the either Contracting Parties, which by virtue of its construction and its equipment, is suitable for carrying more than nine persons, including the driver.

2. "Regular services" means services which provide for carriage of passengers according to a specific frequency and along specified routes, whereby passengers may be taken up or set down at predetermined stopping points. Regular services can be subject to the obligation of respecting previously established timetables and tariffs.

3. "Shuttle services" means services whereby, by means of repeated outward and return journeys, previously formed groups of passengers are carried from a single place of departure to a single destination, situated at the territories of the two Contracting Parties respectively. Each group, consisting of the passengers who made the outward journey, shall be carried back to the place of departure on a later journey.

In the course of shuttle services, no passenger may be taken up or set down during the journey.

The first return journey and the last outward journey in a series of shuttles shall be unladen.

4. "Occasional services" are:

a) closed door tours, that is to say services, whereby the same vehicle is used to carry the same group of passengers throughout the journey and to bring them back to the place of departure, which is the country where the vehicle is registered;

b) services which make the outward journey laden and the return journey unladen;

c) services which make the outward journey unladen and the return journey laden;

d) all other services which do not meet the above criteria.

In the course of occasional services covered by subparagraphs a), b) and c) no passenger may be taken up or set down during the journey.

Article 4

1. The occasional services referred to in Article 3, paragraphs 4a and 4b and 4c, shall be exempted from the need for any transport authorisation on the territory of the Contracting Party, where the vehicle is not registered.

2. The above occasional services shall be carried out under the cover of a control document.

3. The control document shall consist of a journey form (passenger waybill) that must contain at least the following information:

a) the type of service;

b) the main itinerary (with places of departure and destination);

c) the carrier's (s) (company) name and full address (for physical persons - name and address);

d) a complete list of passengers.

4. The books of journey forms shall be supplied by the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties, which territory the vehicle is registered or by bodies appointed by those authorities.

The journey forms shall be filled in before departure and shall be certified by the journey organizer's stamp and signature.

5. Occasional services referred to in Article 3, paragraph 4d can only be operated on the basis of licenses issued by the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties.

The application for receiving these licenses shall be transmitted directly to the competent authority of the other Contracting Party one month before journey. The application shall contain:

a) carrier's name and enterprise's (company) name as well as a full address of a journey organizer;

b) the name of the country where a passenger group is formed;

c) places of departure and destination;

d) the itinerary and border crossing points;

e) dates of outward and return journeys;

f) bus driver's rest and working hours;

g) a bus state registration number and number of seats in it.

Article 5

1. Regular and shuttle services are subject to authorisation, issued by the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties.

2. Authorisations shall be issued in the name of the transport undertaking which is going to operate the service; they may not be transferred by the latter to third parties. However, the carrier who has received the authorisation may operate service through a subcontractor.

3. The period of validity of an authorisation shall not exceed three years for regular services and one year for shuttle services.

4. Authorisations shall specify the following:

a) the type of services;

b) the route of the service, giving in particular the place of departure and the place of destination;

c) the period of validity of the authorisation;

d) for regular services, the stops and the timetable.

5. Applications for authorisation shall be submitted to the competent authority of the Contracting Party, where the vehicle is registered, which can accept it or not. In case the application does not arise any objection, the above authority shall communicate it to the competent authority of the other Contracting Party. If the latter agrees, then each competent authority shall issue the authorisation for that part of the itinerary, which is performed in its territory.

6. The application in two copies should contain data requested by national regulations as well as a drawing of the line containing well marked bus-stops, border points and kilometres. The competent authorities are allowed to ask carrier to give any relevant data that they consider necessary.

7. During the journey an authorised copy of the authorisation or its original, must be on the vehicle.

8. The procedure of operating regular and shuttle services, the content of the application and the model of the authorisation shall be agreed upon by the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties directly or in accordance with resolutions of the joint Committee established by the Article 14 of this Agreement.

Article 6

A regular service is approved and can start operating once the competent authorities of both the Contracting Parties have exchanged the particular license with all necessary enclosures.

Article 7

Every calendar year, until the end of the January, the carriers operating regular services should forward the competent authorities in their country the following data:

a) number of journeys and kilometres;

b) number of passengers of the previous year.

The above data are exchanged between the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties.

Article 8

Transit through the territory of the either Contracting Party of occasional services, performed by a vehicle registered in the other Contracting Party, is exempted from any authorisation. The control document shall be a journey form mentioned in Article 4, paragraph 3 of this Agreement.

II. TRANSPORT OF GOODS

Article 9

1. Carriers established in the territory of one of the Contracting Parties are allowed to carry out international road transport between the territories of the two Contracting Parties ( bilateral transport ), as well as through their territories to other countries (transit transport) using a permit issued by the competent authorities of the other Contracting Party.

The number of the above mentioned permits shall be determined by the Joint Committee referred to in Article 14 of this Agreement.

2. With regard to road goods transport carried out by carriers of one Contracting Party, departing from the territory of the other Contracting Party and bound for a third country and vice versa, (to/from third country transport), a special permit shall be issued by the competent authorities of the Contracting Party from which or to which the transport is carried out.

Article 10

1. The type and number of the permits mentioned in Article 9 paragraph 1, shall be mutually determined by the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties directly or on the basis of the conclusions adopted by the Joint Committee as per Article 14 of this Agreement.

2. The potentiality of issuing the permits referred to in Article 9 paragraph 2, as well as their number, shall be determined by the Joint Committee mentioned in Article 14 of the present Agreement.

3. These permits can only be used by the carriers on whose name they were issued and they are not transmissible.

Article 11

On the basis of Article 10 of this Agreement, the competent authorities of the two Contracting Parties shall exchange each year the agreed upon number of permits through the procedure decided by the Joint Committee provided for in Article 14.

In case of necessity, the additional number of permits referred to in Article 9, paragraph 1, can be exchanged as agreed upon by the competent authorities.

During the first period of implementation of this Agreement, namely before the first meeting of the Joint Committee of Article 14, the two Contracting Parties agree to fulfil the needs concerning the bilateral and transit road transport of goods, as this would be notified to their respective competent authorities through diplomatic channels.

Article 12

1.Permits are not required for the following bilateral and transit transport, the list of which can be extended by the Joint Committee referred to in Article 14:

a) transport of objects from a public airport or to a public airport in case of casualty or any other accident of the plane, or if the plane must land due to a change of course or emergency and in case that flights are canceled;

b) transport of vehicles which are damaged or have broken down and the transport of breakdown repair vehicles;

c) funeral transport;

d) transport of personal belongings in the context of the household removal in special vehicles;

e) transport of mail;

f) transport of goods for fairs and exhibitions;

g) transport of accessories and other goods for theatres, music, sports and other cultural events, circus and film shows and radio or TV performances;

h) transport of dead animals, unless industrial working up of raw material is the case;

i) transport of bees or fish progeny;

j) transport of flowers and other decorative plants;

k) transport of pharmaceuticals or any other materials as aid in case of disasters caused by natural phenomena;

l) transport of empty vehicles to be exchanged for damaged vehicles which are to take over the transport of goods that damaged ones cannot perform, under the cover of the permit issued to the damaged vehicle;

m) transport of cargo to be used for education and advertising;

n) the carriage of goods in motor vehicles, the permissible laden weight of which, including that of trailers, does not exceed 6 tons or the permissible payload of which, including that of trailers, does not exceed 3.5 tons.

2. With regard to the transport mentioned in this Article, the driver must keep all necessary documents that clearly indicate that one of the above kinds of transport is the case.

III. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 13

Nothing in this Agreement shall be held to permit a carrier established in the territory of either Contracting Party to carry out passenger or goods transport between the two points in the territory of the other Contracting Party if this Contracting Party has not issued a special permit for this purpose.

Article 14

In order to regulate all questions regarding the implementation of this Agreement, a Joint Committee shall be established.

This Committee is to be composed of the representatives of the competent authorities of the two Contracting Parties who can also invite representatives of the road transport industry at the meetings.

The Joint Committee shall meet once per year or at the request of either competent authorities of the Contracting Parties, alternately in either territory of the Contracting Parties. The agenda of the meeting shall be presented by the competent authorities of the Contracting Party hosting, or requesting if this is the case, the meeting at least two weeks in advance. Each meeting shall be concluded with the adoption of a protocol signed by the heads of delegations of the two Contracting Parties.

The Joint Committee shall also decide upon the time limit as well as the way of exchanging data and all other relevant information.

Article 15

The Contracting Parties shall notify each other on who are the competent authorities to settle the questions connected with carrying out the provisions of this Agreement.

Article 16

The Contracting Parties agree that vehicles registered in either Contracting Party are mutually exempted from all taxes and other charges, except for tolls, that are levied on the usage of the road networks, on the circulation of vehicles in the territory of the other Contracting Party, as well as any other charges on transport operations.

Article 17

1. Carriers of either Contracting Party and the crews of their vehicles shall, when on the territory of the other Contracting Party, comply with the laws and regulations in force in that country.

2. In the event of any infringement of the provisions of this Agreement by a vehicle or driver of one Contracting Party being in the territory of the other Contracting Party, the competent authority of the Contracting Party in whose territory the infringement occurred may (without prejudice to any lawful sanctions which the courts or enforcement authorities of that Contracting Party may apply) request the competent authority of the other Contracting Party to:

a) issue warning to that carrier; or

b) issue such a warning together with a notification that subsequent infringement will lead to a temporary or permanent exclusion of vehicles owned or operated by that carrier from the territory of the Contracting Party in which the infringement occurred; or

c) issue a notice of such exclusion.

3. The competent authority receiving any such request shall comply therewith and shall as soon as possible inform the competent authority of the other Contracting Party of the action taken.

Article 18

The Agreement shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the Contracting Parties have notified each other in writing that the respective constitutional requirements for giving effect to this Agreement in their countries have been taken. It will remain in force for one year. It shall thereafter be tacitly prolonged for further one year periods unless one of the Contracting Parties notifies the other in writing, six months before the expiration date, of its intention to terminate this Agreement.

Done in Helsinki, on June 23, 1997, in two copies in Latvian, Greek and English, all texts being equally authentic. In case of divergence of interpretation, the English text shall prevail.

In WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this Agreement.

For the Government For the Government

of the Republic of Latvia: of the Hellenic Republic: