MEPs adopt road transport package

The agreement covers the three regulations that make up the package: on cabotage rules, maximum working hours for coach and bus drivers and checks on road transport operators.

•           Three cabotage operations within seven days will be allowed following an international journey

•           Coach drivers can work up to twelve days in a row on a single trip

•           Road haulage firms must meet strict requirements to obtain the right to operate

Fewer empty lorries on the roads: cabotage

Cabotage is the carriage of goods for a third party, on a temporary basis, that originates and terminates within the boundaries of a given country by a transporter of another country. 

Under the amended draft regulation as adopted by MEPs, three cabotage operations in the host Member State are to be allowed within seven days following an international journey.   Within that period hauliers may carry out the three cabotage operations in any Member State transited on their return journey under the condition that they are limited to one operation per Member State transited, within three days of unladen entry into its territory. In any case, cabotage must always be limited to three operations within seven days.

MEPs in favour of further liberalisation

The European Parliament has argued in the past for greater liberalisation of cabotage, above all to reduce the number of journeys made by empty lorries, thereby maximising the benefits for hauliers and limiting the environmental impact.

In the negotiations with Council, MEPs successfully argued that cabotage operations "should not be prohibited as long as they are not carried out in a way that creates a permanent or continuous activity within that Member State".

They also insisted that the new cabotage rules must apply six months after the regulation is published in the Official Journal.

Maximum working time for coach and bus drivers restored to 12 days

Since the application of a 2006 EU directive, coach drivers who travel abroad must take at least one rest day every six days. Tour operators complain that this forces them to employ two drivers for most journeys and to claw back the extra cost from their customers.

Following an accord reached with industry representatives in May last year, MEPs backed the reintroduction of the "twelve day rule", which allows the period in which coach drivers can work on international journeys to be raised to twelve days.

However, there are restrictions: the journey must be a single trip, not several different ones, drivers will have to take daily rest periods and will be compensated after the 12 days with correspondingly longer rest periods.

As of 1 January 2014, on night services from 22:00 to 6am, the coach will have to be multi-manned.

At the insistence of MEPs, the "12 day rule" will apply by spring 2010.

Measures to safeguard public services

Where an international coach or bus service would affect the viability of a comparable public service on a given stretch of a route, a Member State can, with the Commission's agreement, withdraw authorisation for that service.

Harmonisation of conditions for road transport operators

The final part of the road package, a regulation on conditions to be met to pursue the occupation of road transport operator, was also strongly supported by MEPs. The aim is to guarantee a high, uniform standard of service throughout the EU and ensure that firms comply with labour regulations and administrative rules in the country where they are based.

Interconnected electronic registers

National electronic registers must be established by Member States, containing information on matters including the firm's finances, place of establishment, staff management and any previous infringements.  At the request of MEPs, these registers must be interconnected by the end of 2012 to enable the authorities of the Member States to consult data on a firm based in any other Member State.

No more "letter box companies"

To put an end to "letter-box" companies, whereby a firm registers in one Member State but  mainly operates in another, a company must be able to show that it is genuinely established in a Member State (i.e. has its offices there), by providing the relevant documentation to the authorities and showing where in that State it parks its unused vehicles.

Professional competence

Transport company managers and the firms themselves must not have been found guilty of a criminal or serious offence relating to road transport. The regulation defines criteria according to which the withdrawal of "good repute" must be decided: on the insistence of MEPs, drug trafficking and human trafficking were added to the list. To prove their competence, transport managers will have to pass a compulsory written test arranged by the Member State authorities.