Brussels, 12/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - At its last meeting, the Transport Council struck a compromise (in first reading) on two dossiers:
Driver training. Awaiting the European Parliament's opinion in first reading, the Council managed to agree on common guidelines which are relatively flexible in terms of harmonising the compulsory level of professional drivers' initial and top-up training. Member States will have the option of either issuing a certificate of professional aptitude (following an exam) either after initial training lasting 280 hours, or on the base of equivalent professional experience. Member States can also authorise drivers to only follow a 70-hour concentrated initial training course. The directive sets out the areas to be assessed in the exams (road signs, fuel consumption, how engines work, safety, social regulations, etc) and also in the top-up professional training courses. Germany, Ireland and Denmark have challenged the usefulness of passing legislation in this connection and have maintained their reservations. The text will greatly change practices in the Member States since at present, only 2 Member States (France and the Netherlands) make initial training compulsory. Almost 90% of drivers never follow any other training course than the one required for taking their driving test.
Speed limiters. The Council set out general guidelines for the compulsory fitting of speed-restriction devices in coaches and lorries. The compromise stipulates that the directive would apply from 1 January 2004 onwards for new vehicles and from 1 January 2006 onwards for vehicles constructed after October 2001, in line with the time table laid down for applying the EURO 3 standards to vehicle emissions. Vehicles constructed before 1 October 2001 will not be obliged to fit a speed limiter. The speed limit has been set at 90 km/hr for lorries of over 3.5 tonnes and 100 km/hr for passenger buses and coaches of more than 10 tonnes. The United Kingdom wanted the coach threshold to be set at 7.5 tonnes and has negotiated that Member States have the option of applying a derogation to vehicles of under 7.5 tonnes not used in other Member States.