Bulgaria has invited Turkey to call a meeting of a mixed commission on September 10-11 to settle a dispute over the introduction of paid carrier permits, Volodya Kirov, Executive Director of the Automobile Administration Executive Agency, told journalists on Tuesday.

Turkey unilaterally requires Bulgarian lorries to hold such permits in violation of a Bulgarian-Turkish agreement on road haulage.

The agreement signed in 1977 provides for the introduction of paid permits for transit vehicles. Bulgaria informed Turkey twice this year about the introduction of a fee of 83 euro, which applies to only half of the quota of permits for carriage of goods, Kirov said.

On August 12, Turkey notified Bulgaria it was introducing the same fee for both transit and bilateral carriage as of September 1. On the next day Bulgaria submitted an objection to Talat Aydin,Director General of Turkey's Land Transport. Aydin said in a letter that Turkey's decision had been prompted by the unilateral Bulgarian move. Unlike Turkey, however, Bulgaria acted on the strength of the effective agreement on carriage between the two countries, Kirov said.

"We hope that Turkey will accept our proposals, and unless this is done by the end of September, Bulgaria will take every step needed to protect its transport companies," Kirov said. At this stage, Turkey has not accepted to have a meeting of a mixed commission and insists on an expert meeting. However, Bulgaria wants a mixed commission to deal with the issue because it is set up under the agreement and has the power to make decisions instead of just establishing the facts, Kirov said.

Bulgarian road haulers pay 83 euro both for transit and for bilateral carriage through Turkey. The two countries have exchanged about 250,000 permits for transit carriage and about 20,000 for bilateral carriage each. Bulgaria's transit through Turkey is about 20 times smaller than Turkish transit carriage through Bulgaria, while bilateral carriage is roughly equal, Kirov said.

Meanwhile, it transpired that Bulgarian vehicles without catalysts will not be allowed in Turkey. The new regulation is effective as of September, the Foreign Ministry's Consular Directorate said.

Bulgarian-registered vehicles, carrying out free haulage services in line with the multilateral agreements signed with the European Conference of Ministers of Transport CEMT/CM (2005) 9/FINAL1, will be required to present permits for all kinds of haulage effected by them.

Vehicles with Bulgarian licence plate numbers, carrying out bilateral haulage services, will be required to pay a fee of 83 euro or their equivalence in the Turkish national currency. An additional fee of 83 euro will be required for incoming and outgoing transit haulage.

Source: BTA