This article relates to public law of transport i.e. the regulatory aspects. Regulation of road, rail and inland waterway transport was in the vanguard of government intervention in the economy in the netherlands in the 1930's. The basic patterns of regulation of these sectors is still very similar to the system existing a quarter of a century ago. Yet there are some very recent developments towards deregulation in particular in the sector of road transport. The influence of the european economic community which had a common transport policy as one of its aims, has so far been very limited. A recent judgement of the court of justice of the european communities exposing the council of ministers failure to establish a common transport policy, may change this. Important changes have occurred in the sea transport sector where government regulation has branched out from developing nations and the USA to regulation in the traditional maritime countries. Unctad has been the catalyst of these developments, drafting several treaties of which one, the code of conduct for liner conferences, has recently come into force. The EEC has responded to these efforts and created its own instruments. In the air transport sector deregulation in the USA is noteworthy. More limited liberalisation efforts have recently taken place in western europe.
Abstract