Jens Nilsson MEP (S&D, Sweden) suggests the significant reduction of cabotage operations that road hauliers from one-member state can carry out in another, as part of the European Commission proposal in the first "mobility" package presented on 31 May last (see EUROPE 11799) in his draft report on the revision of regulations 1071/2009 and 1072/2009.
This particularly sensitive draft report will be examined with interest by the MEPs at the European Parliament's transport committee. The difficulties involved in cabotage are currently the subject of intense debates in Parliament (see EUROPE 11811) and the Council of the European Union (see EUROPE 11919), particularly because of the differences between Western European countries in the Road Transport Alliance and the central, eastern and peripheral European countries.
Mr Nilsson points out that certain companies established on European Union territory sometimes abuse the opportunities provided under Union law, which can lead to “systematic cabotage" operations. He is proposing to exclude empty conveyances and therefore not give the heavy-duty vehicles the right to carry out consecutive cabotage operations on this kind of journey. In this regard, he would also like to avoid allocating the right of cabotage to vehicles whose international transport operations value is low.
In an effort to strengthen the rules for this kind of operation, he is also calling for cabotage provisions to apply to vans (2.4 tonnes to 3.5 tonnes) and therefore rectify an existing legal loophole.
An extremely controversial Commission proposal involves limiting the number of days authorised and the number of cabotage operations; this will be the subject of an amendment. Although road hauliers can currently carry out three operations over a seven-day period, the Commission is proposing to make the number of operations over a five-day period unlimited. The rapporteur is adopting a more protective approach by suggesting a limit on this latter period to 48 hours.
Expansion of regulation 1071/2009’s scope to vans.
With regard to the revision of regulation 1071/2009 relating to access to the profession of road haulier, Mr Nilsson is proposing to extend this regulation's scope to vehicles used in international transport and whose weight is between 2.4 and 3.5 t. This is despite the fact that on principle, this currently only applies to vehicles that weigh more than 3.5 t. A raft of exceptions is also planned. The Commission has proposed to revise these provisions and the Council also appears to want to reach an agreement on a minimum threshold (see EUROPE 11916).
This question involves promoting a level playing field and tackling the proliferation of “letterbox companies": the companies targeted will have to meet a certain number of basic criteria if they are to have the right to operate in this area.
In view of strengthening controls and on the basis of the proposal on cabotage, Mr Nilsson is also proposing measures to improve the exchange of information and data between the different national authorities. He is also calling for the swift compulsory introduction of smart tachographs on board vehicles. It should be recalled that the Commission is proposing to make it compulsory throughout the entire European fleet by 2034. In his draft, Wim Van de Camp (EPP, Netherlands) proposed bringing this date forward to 2020 (EUROPE 11935). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)