Brussels, 08/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - Around 20% of vehicles controlled in the European Union, as a weighted average, infringe the European directive on the harmonisation of the control of the transport of hazardous goods by road, says the European Commission in its first report on the implementation of Directive 95/50, adopted last week. Most infringements identified relate to the lack of transport papers (19.6% of cases), the yellow identification panel (11.6%) or an extinguisher on board. Serious infringements like the transport of unauthorised goods or leaks, on the other hand, only represent 0.3% of the infringements observed. However, the Commission notes in its report, that will be handed to the Council and European Parliament, a large majority of infringements have had to be recorded under the "miscellaneous" heading, as they were not identified in the list of infringements defined by the directive. This demonstrates that the lists annexed to the directive will have to be modified, the Commission believes.
The Commission observes that the number of vehicles controlled varies considerably from one Member State to the next, with transit countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria) conducting some 40% more controls than the other States. "In most Member States, one vehicle circulating in a thousand is the subject of a control", the report states, but transit countries control around 1 in 500, whereas those countries nearer the edges, like Denmark or Italy conduct one control in 4,000 trips.
Furthermore, the proportion of vehicles controlled found to be infringing the directive varies from 10% to 80%, depending on the States. In Austria, 83% do not comply, against 50% in Finland, 55% in Belgium and less than 20% in Germany, Spain and France.
The Commission concludes from its report that "road controls are an effective tool for revealing problems linked to the security of the transport of hazardous goods and, indirectly for improving security" and recommends that Member States control at least 1 in every 1000 trips on average.