23/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - At the Transport Council on 22 March the German federal transport minister, Wolfgang Tiefensee, and his counterparts from 11 other member states (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, Ireland, Austria, Bulgaria and Romania) signed an administrative deal for the Euro-Control-Route (ECR). The agreement focuses on the participation of national transport inspection agencies in the system used for inspecting heavy vehicles, buses and coaches. The accord aims at examining whether drivers meet the obligatory rest period conditions. The European transport services inspection group (ECR) was set up in 1999 on the initiative of France, Belgium and Luxembourg. (aby)