Brussels, 27/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 24 May, Coreper approved the compromise reached during the institutional trilogue on the smart tachograph. The Council will still have to confirm its first reading position through a formal vote, as the European Parliament has done. This vote is likely to be held this summer. These are the final stages of a negotiating process that has lasted almost two years.
The member states' permanent representatives endorsed the compromise reached between the Council and the European Parliament in their negotiations on Tuesday 14 for a new regulation on the tachograph used in road transport (see EUROPE 10846) to record heavy goods vehicle drivers' work and rest times. Revising this regulation is expected to cut tachograph fraud and thus ensure better social and competition conditions in the sector. This will be done by introducing a satellite-linked “smart tachograph” that contains satellite technology and will cut down the number of manual operations required. From round 2017-2018, heavy goods vehicles operating in the international transport sector will have to be fitted with this new generation apparatus. Other kinds of vehicles will have around 15 years to adapt. The same transition period will apply to member states to equip themselves with remote control technology for detecting tachograph data and subsequently better selecting the vehicles that need to be inspected
The compromise reached between the institutions provides also for an exemption from using the tachograph for vehicles that are under 7.5 tonnes and driven by non-professional drivers within a 100-kilometre radius of their activity base. This measure was bitterly discussed between the institutions and aims to protect small businesses from being overwhelmed by red tape. Current exemptions are within a 50-kilometre radius, and some would have liked to see the distance increased to a radius of 150 kilometre. (MD/transl.fl)