International freight transportation

24.2.2015

Question for written answer E-002781-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Paulo Rangel (PPE) , Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar (PPE)

The Portuguese media recently published a range of concerns raised by the Associação Nacional de Transportes Rodoviários de Mercadorias (Antram) (National Association of Road Freight Transport) regarding potential barriers created by France, Belgium and Germany to international freight traffic.

France and Belgium have introduced legislation which forbids drivers from resting inside their lorries, and anyone who does not comply with this rule will receive a criminal penalty.

With regard to Germany, as the press reports state, Antram has warned that the legislative amendment being introduced will force drivers to provide the German authorities, in writing and in German, with the dates that they will be travelling through the country, and — when the lorry is carrying freight to Germany or it is going to pick up freight from there — the Portuguese company must pay the driver the German national minimum wage for the hours that they spend in the country.

Does the Commission believe that the above legislation respects the principles of free movement and competition?