Brussels, 13/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - After long debate and several concessions, the 27 EU states reached agreement on Friday 13 June on a “road package” compromise. Meeting in Council, EU Transport Ministers reached political agreement by qualified majority (three abstentions and one vote against) on the three regulations making up this package which seeks to harmonise rules on access to the market and to the profession of road haulier (see EUROPE 9431). The compromise allows cabotage, including cabotage in transit countries on the return journey, on condition that this is limited to one operation per member state crossed within three days of entering that country unladen and that the total number of operations does not exceed three within the three days. In addition, to protect the interests of those member states that are reticent about opening up their market, cabotage is allowed on condition that it is not a permanent or continuous activity within the host state and the frequency and period during which the operations are carried out is limited. Member states can, after consulting the European Commission, activate a safeguard clause in the event of disruption of the domestic transport market due to cabotage. The debate on cabotage will be re-opened in 2013 after the Commission presents a report on the situation on the Community road transport market, focusing particularly on the assessment of the effectiveness of controls, the development of employment conditions in the profession and progress on harmonisation of rules. Member states also reached agreement on arrangements for putting in place national electronic registers, to be set up within two years of the regulation establishing the rules for access to the profession come into force.
Far from backing the gradual liberalisation of cabotage, as the European Parliament wants, the Council managed to reconcile the differences between peripheral member states (for which cabotage is not an issue), the so-called “transit” countries and the more or less liberal approaches to transport (see EUROPE 9680). The agreement adopted (3 cabotage operations, including in transit countries within the space of seven days) will allow lorry drivers to load or unload goods on the return journey, in countries other than their country of destination - as long as no more than three operations are carried out within a period of one week, and no more than three days are spent in the transit country. Thus, a (laden) lorry travelling from Belgium to Spain could carry out three consecutive operations in Spain, then one in France and another in Luxemburg before returning to Belgium.
Austria, which is afraid that cabotage will worsen conditions for its lorry drivers, voted against the proposal. Italy, also reticent about liberalising its transport market, abstained, as did Portugal (which asked to add a statement to the minutes of the meeting) and the Czech Republic, the last two wanting much more liberalisation of cabotage. “Unladen journeys going through our country amount to 5%” of transport, if cabotage was allowed on return journey, there would be too many additional journeys, said Austrian Transport Minister Werner Fayman, before adding that wage and social costs being higher in Austria than in other member states, authorising cabotage could result in social dumping. Among the states which wanted cabotage, France supported the compromise, even though it would have preferred to allow cabotage on the return journey only on the shortest possible route (something that is not stated in the text), said French Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg and the Netherlands, while backing the compromise, all said they wanted greater liberalisation. Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain, Estonia, Slovakia, Cyprus and Malta supported the compromise from the beginning. The British delegation opted for stricter regulation of this activity. Greece, which had wanted to restrict the number of operations allowed, decided not to block the compromise.
National Registers. Member states also backed setting up national electronic registers, containing data on transport companies (including any infringements committed). Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding said that setting up registers of this sort would reduce administrative costs by introducing targeted controls on companies and by getting rid of compulsory five-yearly controls. The compromise requires the Commission to bring forward general guidance on the structure and data for these registers by 1 June 2009. Member states have two years to put them in place and until 31 December 2012 to interconnect them. With the exception of the most serious offences, which will have to be recorded as soon as national registers are in place, member states only have to record serious offences from 2016. In their search for compromise on the package, delegations supported the British proposal that, when the Commission presents what data should be included in the registers, it should recommend including data relative to vehicle registration marks. According to London, this will make the registers more effective.
12-day rule. This arrangement, introduced by the Parliament in the regulation on access to the profession, which allows bus drivers to push their weekly rest time back 12 days, will be examined in second reading. Speaking during the debate in Friday morning, Spanish Secretary of State Francisco Ros Peran proposed that this derogation be extended to include lorry drivers.
“I don't see why we should be more flexible with passenger drivers than with freight drivers,” he said. On behalf of the Slovenian Presidency, Transport Minister Radovan Zerjav welcomed this agreement for which Slovenia had worked tirelessly. “This ends the period of vague rules for providing road transport services,” he said, stating that the regulations adopted would “prevent abuses and contribute to ensuring fair competition, better efficiency and better control in this field”. (A.By./transl.rt)