# Council Directive of 9 November 1987 on access to the occupation of carrier of goods by waterway in national and international transport and on the mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications for this occupation (87/540/EEC), Article 3

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

1. Natural persons or undertakings wishing to pursue the occupation of carrier of goods by waterway must satisfy the condition of professional competence, even if they are members of a group or cooperative of operators within the meaning of Article 1 (2) or exercise their occupation exclusively for a specific period of time as subcontractors to another waterway transport undertaking.
If the applicant is a natural person who does not satisfy that condition, the competent authorities may nevertheless authorize him to pursue the occupation of carrier of goods by waterway provided that he indicates to them another person satisfying the condition who in actual fact manages the transport operations on a permanent basis.
If the applicant is an undertaking within the meaning of Article 1 (2) one of the natural persons who in actual fact manage the undertaking's transport operations on a permanent basis must meet the condition of professional competence.
2. The condition of professional competence shall consist in the possession of the standard of competence accepted by the authority or body appointed for this purpose by each Member State in the subjects listed in the Annex. The necessary knowledge shall be acquired either by attending courses or by practical experience in a waterway transport undertaking, or by a combination of the two. Member States may exempt the holders of certain diplomas from providing evidence of their knowledge of the subjects listed in the Annex which are covered by the said diplomas.
After verifying possession of the knowledge concerned, the authority or body referred to in the first subparagraph shall issue a certificate.
3. A Member State may, after consulting the Commission, exempt from application of this Directive carriers operating exclusively on navigable waterways within their territory not linked to the waterway network of another Member State. Practical experience gained in a transport undertaking exempted from application of these conditions shall not give entitlement to the certificate referred to in paragraph 2.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/1987/540/article/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-directive-1987-540/article-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.