On Thursday 3 March, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Transport Committee approved at second reading the interinstitutional agreement reached on 26 October on rules for vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods (40 votes in favour, four against, four abstentions) (see EUROPE 12833/32).
As a reminder, the revision of the current rules provides companies with more flexibility to hire and lease vehicles from another Member State than the one in which they are established in order to meet temporary or seasonal peaks in demand or to replace defective vehicles in their fleet (see EUROPE 12821/5).
In addition, the text also stipulates that Member States may not restrict the use on their territory of a vehicle hired from a business established in another Member State.
However, several safeguards for Member States are included in the revised rules. Therefore vehicles hired without a driver may not represent more than 25% of a company’s total fleet.
The issue of the leasing period, on which the EU Council and the European Parliament had negotiated at length, sets the guaranteed leasing period at 2 months. A Member State could nevertheless require, after a period of 30 days, the registration of a vehicle on its territory, if national rules so require. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)