• Establish an appropriate framework to optimise the Internal Market for Inland waterway transport, and to remove barriers that prevent its increased use. Assess and define the necessary tasks and mechanisms for their execution, also with a view to the wider European context.
1.1.4. Further integrating the road freight market
171. Road transport dominates the commercial transport market, but at the same time it is a fragile and highly fragmented sector composed of a vast majority of very small undertakings whose profit margins are directly dependant on labour costs and on the fluctuation of oil prices. To reap the full benefits of open markets and ensure its social acceptance, it is necessary to work towards establishing a level playing field concerning rules on social standards, safety, and road use charging – and their enforcement.
Harmonised enforcement of rules for professional road transport
172. Road transport undertakings face unequal treatment in different Member States owing to divergences in the control and sanction systems. This creates unnecessary administrative burdens and uneven conditions of competition, as well as raising safety concerns. To address these problems, the Commission will propose to harmonise and enhance the enforcement policies so that in the Single European Transport Area operators are treated on an equal footing when facing checks and when infringing the social, technical, safety and market rules established at EU level.
173. The checks of social rules should be made more cost-effective. While rules on driving time and rest periods are of paramount importance to prevent accidents due to driver fatigue and to safeguard drivers working conditions, firms that do not comply with these rules can gain a sizeable undue competitive advantage. The basis of the controls carrying out by national enforcement or police officers during checks are the data recorded by the tachographs. The tamper-proof digital tachograph fitted since 2006 on all new vehicles generate more trustworthy data. Cases of manipulation and frauds have however been found. While the administrative burden for undertakings which comply with the rules should be reduced, the EU should make sure that the controls become fully effective in preventing and detecting manipulation or misuse of the tachographs.
174. The current regulations on access to the market and admission to the profession104 already foresee the creation of a European register of road transport undertakings. The necessary measures to put it in operation through the interconnection of national registers have to be taken before the end of 2012.105 The European register will allow exchange of information on infringements committed by non resident undertakings.
175. As a first step, this register will focus on exchange of information on the serious infringements as prescribed by the legislation, but subsequently, the Commission intends to make a proposal for the information contained in the register also to be used to target checks and in real time during roadside checks (e.g. control of the validity of the licence). As a result, checks will become quicker, more targeted and the overall administrative burden on those undertakings which properly comply with the rules will considerably diminish.
176. Enforcement of EU legislation requires that sanctions in case of infringement are proportionate, non discriminatory and effective. A recent report106 showed the existence of substantial differences in the Member States in terms of type of penalties, categorisation of infringements and fines applied in the field of social road transport legislation. For the same infringement, a road transport undertaking can receive a fine up to 10 times higher in one country than in another. The
104 Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009
establishing common rules concerning the conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator and repealing Council Directive 96/26/EC.
105 Art. 16 (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009.
106 Report from the Commission analysing the penalties for serious infringements against the social rules
Commission will propose to harmonise these sanctions. The European Parliament107 has already asked the Commission to make use of the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which allow establishing minimum rules with regard to the definition of criminal offences and sanctions, where the approximation of criminal laws and regulations proves essential to ensure the effective implementation of a Union policy.
177. The work of the enforcement bodies in the Member States plays an essential part in the application of the legislation. Many different authorities are involved depending on the institutional set up of each Member State; these include police forces, ministries of transport and of labour, and dedicated enforcement agencies. A harmonised approach on the minimum training of enforcement officers would lead to a more homogeneous application of the EU legislation. It would also favour the exchange of information, for example on techniques to detect manipulations of tachographs, and to disseminate more systematically the information on regulatory progress at European level. The Commission will therefore make a proposal aiming at the harmonisation of the training of enforcement officers.
Road cabotage for freight
178. Road cabotage is the possibility for an operator to carry goods within a Member State other than the one in which it is established. It is a way for operators to reduce their empty returns after an international trip and seek business opportunities particularly in cross-border areas. However, given the differences still existing across the European Union, particularly on taxation and social rules, it is feared that a full opening of cabotage could result in a significant shift in jobs between countries and generate additional traffic.
179. The rules on access to market adopted by the legislator in 2009108 strike a balance between these two considerations. Hauliers willing to perform national transport operations in another Member States on a systematic basis can do so by creating a subsidiary in this Member State, so that they are submitted to the same rules as their competitors. Those who prefer not taking this step are allowed up to three cabotage operations within a limit of seven days after an international transport109. These
rules offer more flexibility than the previous ones adopted in 1993110, but they still restrict hauliers in their choice of contracts for optimal routing.
180. The Commission considers that, given the pressing needs to ensure market efficiency and the proposed steps to harmonise enforcement of rules, further opening of the market should be pursued.
107 Report on penalties for serious infringements against the social rules in road transport, INI/2009/2154
(Ranner report).
108 Regulation (EC) N° 1072/2009
109 The three cabotage operations can either all take place in the country of unloading of the international
operation, or as a maximum of one operation per country in other Member States.
110 Member States could prevent an undertaking from performing cabotage during one year after one
Maximum weights and dimensions of road vehicles
181. The maximum size and weight of road vehicles are governed by Directive 96/53/EC111. The Directive – which sets minimum standards and maximum sizes and weights that vehicles must respect to have access to the road networks of all the Member States – was conceived in the 1990’s to accompany the opening of the international road transport market.
182. The evolution of containerisation, the need to ensure the economic and environmental efficiency of transport and the development of aerodynamics devices to improve the energy efficiency of vehicles call for a fresh look at this legislation. 183. Some in the road industry argue that significantly heavier and longer trucks would
bring efficiency gains, and could be used without jeopardising safety or damaging infrastructure. Further independent work is currently being undertaken for the Commission to assess the issue and determine conditions for progress.
184. It does in any case appear to the Commission that there would be a good case for limited change to the current dimensions, to allow fitting (or retrofitting) vehicles with aerodynamic devices that could reduce fuel consumption112. Limited changes may also be necessary to accommodate new standards of intermodal vehicles and to deal with electric vehicles.