Brussels, 14/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption on Wednesday of two recommendations by Helmut Markov (GUE/NGL, Germany), the European Parliament opposed the Council over social legislation to be applied in the field of road transport (codecision, second reading). There is now a move towards conciliation procedure, which will not open before September, to seek to resolve the main points of divergence between the two institutions: especially the rest periods of drivers and controls to be carried out on the number of hours they drive. The Parliament also took a stance in favour of deferring the introduction of a digital tachograph in lorries.
Recommendations on the Council common position concerning the proposal of directive on approximation of certain social legislation provisions in the field of road transport:
The Parliament decided that the minimum daily rest time for drivers should consist of a period of uninterrupted rest of at least twelve hours, although the Council reduced it to eleven hours. It also adopted a more flexible approach than the Council for minimum regulated breaks. Where the Council adopted an extremely detailed definition of such breaks from work, the Parliament simply provides for this pause to be replaced by pauses of at least fifteen minutes spread out over the driving time or immediately after, in order to ensure that a total of forty-five minutes is taken during or immediately after the driving time of four and a half hours;
The Parliament also approved its transport committee by introducing into the text a definition of driving time for road carriers. This is time during which a driver, in conformity with the tachograph, has control over a vehicle and is actively involved in the act of driving in traffic, as well as time taken by the driver to return to the place of activity or the vehicle, in cases where the driver drives a vehicle to cover this distance and if the distance is over 100 km. The aim, for example, is to ensure that the driver does not drive his own car for 600 km without taking sufficient breaks from driving.
Despite the fact that the Commission was adamant that the date it suggested should be kept, MEPs called for the introduction of the digital tachograph in lorries (a device intended to control the real driving time of drivers) to be postponed. The Parliament does not find the date set by the Commission, 5 August 2005, is realistic and feels that all vehicles manufactured after 5 August 2006, as well as all vehicles put into circulation for the first time after 5 August 2007, should be equipped with the famous tachographs (Ed.: which, already in the seventies, the British called the “the spy in the cab”).
Furthermore, MEPs are in favour of introducing a common scale of sanctions for infringements to the regulations, including temporary immobilisation of the vehicle and/or, for passenger transport, the obligation for the driver to have a daily rest period as well as the withdrawal, suspension or restriction of his driving licence or authorisation.
On the other hand, contrary to the rapporteur's wishes, the Parliament finally excluded from the scope of the directive vehicles weighing less than 7.5 tonnes.
Recommendation on the Council common position relating to the proposal of directive on minimum conditions to be respected for implementation of social legislation in the road transport sector:
The Parliament suggested a more ambitious timetable than that of the Council for the number of controls to be carried out by Member Sates, taking it to 1% of effective working days for drivers from the date of enforcement of the regulation, 2% from 1 January 2007 and 3% as of 1 January 2009. Also, from 1 January 2011, the Commission could raise this percentage to 4% if, at that date, over 90% of all vehicles controlled are equipped with digital tachographs. The Parliament also considers that at least 15% of the total number of work days controlled should be on the road and at least 50% on the premises of the companies concerned (instead of 25%).
MEPs also reintroduced the list of infringements to the regulation to be considered as serious and the provisions concerning sanctions foreseen in the initial Commission paper. In parallel to the report to be submitted three years after entry into force of the directive on sanctions foreseen by Member States for serious infringements, the Commission should also publish a proposal of directive on harmonising these sanctions. MEPs finally adopted a series of amendments which mainly provide for an enhanced role for the control coordination body.