On Monday, 18 January, the European Commission published a proposal for a Regulation aimed, once again, at allowing the renewal of certificates, licences and approvals required in the transport sector, as well as the postponement of certain periodic checks and continuous training, as these procedures are still hampered by the health measures in force in the EU.
The text, which has been eagerly awaited by the Member States since December (see EUROPE 12630/3), follows a continuation of a first similar Regulation (2020/698), but is now obsolete. This first Regulation, adopted in May (see EUROPE 12491/16), extended the period of validity of the documents and postponed conducting checks and training for only 6 to 7 months.
The new Regulation unveiled on Monday aims, in turn, to ensure that the bulk of documents that would have expired or would expire between 1 September 2020 and 30 April 2021 remain valid for up to seven more months.
Similarly, the text indicates that the periodic technical inspections, for example, which were to be carried out between these two dates, should now be able to be carried out at a later date, no later than 7 months after the initial deadline.
In some cases, detailed one after the other, the period could also be limited to 6 months.
All this “to ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market, a high level of transport safety, to provide legal certainty, and to avoid potential market disruption, as well as ensure continuity of the legal regime”, says the European Commission.
Before its text can enter into force, however, it still needs to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.
To consult the proposal: https://bit.ly/38WXTYG (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)