The Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) agreed on a common position on Wednesday 20 October with a view to entering into negotiations with the European Parliament on vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road (2006/1/EC) (see EUROPE 12811/11). A trilogue is scheduled for 26 October.
Most of the discussion focused on the time limit for hiring a vehicle, after which a Member State may decide to restrict its use or require national registration. This was the last point of debate on this issue.
The Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council intends to leave room for manoeuvre for Member States to decide, after a guaranteed minimum circulation period of 30 days, to require registration on their territory.
Differentiations could be introduced regarding the minimum guaranteed period of use depending on the Member States’ new or existing registration requirements.
A variant of this option could also be considered. This would consist of the introduction of a guaranteed period of two consecutive months of use, with the possibility for the Member State to request, despite the guaranteed period, the registration of the vehicle on its territory after 30 days of use.
However, in a paper presented to the members of the Land Transport Group on 4 October, the EU Council considered that this option might be “less persuasive” for the user, who would then see the vehicle rental contract divided into “a period during which no registration is required and a period during which the vehicle may have to be registered in case of subsequent use in the territory”. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)