Brussels, 18/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission adopted a raft of delegated acts on Friday 18 March, including a common classification of serious road safety infringements complementing Regulation 1071/2009 establishing common rules on the conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator. The objective is to enhance road safety, contribute to a fairer competition between road transport operators and to facilitate a consistent enforcement of EU rules across borders.
The current regulation, which applies to 3.5 tonne vehicles and 9-seater passenger transport vehicles, sets four major criteria that transport managers must comply with to be able to operate: good repute (ethical practices or not, including fraudulent manipulation of tachographs); financial standing (€9,000 capital assets each year for the first vehicle, then €5,000 for each additional vehicle); professional competence; effective and stable establishment in a member state.
Article 6.2b states that the Commission will draw up a list of categories, types and degrees of seriousness of serious infringements of Community rules which, in addition to those set out in Annex IV, may lead to the loss of good repute. For example, under this regulation, exceeding the maximum driving time by 25% or more is on the list of the most serious infringements.
In December, transport ministers wanted to get tougher on fraud in the road transport sector. At the time, the Council focused on three issues: differences between national legislations on cabotage, the increase in the number of fictitious companies, known as “letter-box companies”, and transport vehicles of less than 3.5 tonners which do not fall within EU legislation, thereby allowing some carriers to engage in abusive practices (see EUROPE 11450). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)