Texts adopted - Restriction on heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport ***I

Choisissez la langue de votre document :

Index

Full text

Procedure : 1998/0096(COD)

Document stages in plenary

Document selected : A5-0191/2002
Texts tabled : A5-0191/2002		Debates :		Votes :		Texts adopted : P5_TA(2002)0343

Texts adopted

335k

180k

Tuesday, 2 July 2002 - Strasbourg

Restriction on heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport ***I

P5_TA(2002)0343

A5-0191/2002

		Resolution
		Consolidated text
		Annex
		Annex

European Parliament legislative resolution on the amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive on a transparent system of harmonised rules for restrictions on heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport on designated roads (COM(2000) 759 – C5&nbhy;0679/2000 – 1998/0096(COD))

(Codecision procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal and the amended Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(1998) 115 (1) and COM(2000) 759 (2)),

– having regard to Article 71(1) and Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C5&nbhy;0679/2000),

– having regard to Rule 67 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism (A5&nbhy;0191/2002),

1. Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2. Asks to be consulted again should the Commission intend to amend the proposal substantially or replace it with another text;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

(1)	OJ C 198, 24.6.1998, p. 17.
(2)	OJ C 120 E, 24.4.2001, p. 3.

Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 2 July 2002 with a view to the adoption of European Parliament and Council Decision 2002/…/EC on a transparent system of harmonised rules for restrictions on heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport on designated roads

P5_TC1-COD(1998)0096

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community Article 71.1 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions(3),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(4),

Whereas:

(1) There are currently no harmonised rules across the Community on driving restrictions for heavy goods vehicles on Sundays and public holidays.

(2) This lack of harmonised rules results in differences as regards the duration of driving restrictions and definitions of vehicles exempt from those restrictions.

(3) This situation has significant negative consequences for the freedom to provide transport services and for the provision of information to road haulage operators and professional drivers in the Community.

(4) The existence of driving bans that differ from Member State to Member State makes it impossible to make round trips over long distances without excessive interruptions. Peripheral regions of the Community are, in particular, highly and disproportionately affected by such driving restrictions because of their geographical situation, while central regions of the Community are highly and disproportionately affected by transit traffic.

(5) In addition, the existence of driving bans that differ from Member State to Member State is a cause of legal uncertainty in relation to the principle of the free movement of goods and Community provisions on guaranteeing freedom to provide transport services. The forthcoming enlargement and the resulting likely increase in heavy goods vehicle traffic can only make the situation more complicated.

(6) In accordance with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, the objectives of the proposed action, namely to establish a transparent system of harmonised rules for driving restrictions, thereby ensuring that the negative consequences for the freedom to provide transport services are reduced as far as possible, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can, therefore, by reason of the scale of the action be better achieved by the Community. This Directive confines itself to the minimum required in order to achieve those objectives and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose.

(7) It is desirable that, in particular for international transport, the negative impact of driving restrictions be minimised; whereas it would be desirable that certain roads, indicated in Annex I, Section 2 of Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the Trans-European transport Network(5), be kept open for international transport. Therefore such roads should only be subject to new driving bans during certain hours on weekends, public holidays and the eve of public holidays. The Commission should be notified of such driving restrictions. Existing driving bans that are longer than the limits proposed shall be permitted to continue.

(8) This maximum permitted duration should be extendible in exceptional cases when such extension can be justified on environmental, road-safety or social grounds. A request for such an extension should be examined without delay by the Commission with the assistance of a committee.

(9) Member States should be able to restrict the circulation during the night of heavy goods vehicles whose noise exceeds Community standards. Member States should also be able to restrict heavy goods vehicles when exceptionally high traffic density is expected, for example during summer holiday periods. The Commission should be notified of such driving restrictions.

(10) Under special environmental or weather conditions Member States should be able to restrict the circulation of heavy goods vehicles on grounds of environmental protection or road safety. For practical reasons, it should be possible to adopt such restrictions without notifying the Commission.

(11) The types of heavy goods vehicles or transport operations which are exempted from bans in all Member States should be harmonised.

(12) The introduction of driving restrictions at national, regional and local level is currently done in an uncoordinated manner. A European road information system which can be accessed in real time by all road haulage operators and professional drivers should therefore be established, enabling reliable information on the timing and extent of these restrictions to be provided to all road transport operators. On the basis of the information collected under this system, the Commission should produce an annual report to the Member States and the European Parliament.

(13) Comparative statistics are needed on the level of use of international routes to give an overall picture of traffic in the European Union and the candidate countries and, on the basis of these statistics, to be able to assess the impact of driving restrictions on policies for the regulation and organisation of road transport.

(14) Since the measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive are measures of general scope within the meaning of Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(6), they should be adopted by use of the regulatory procedure provided for in Article 5 of that Decision.

(15) Each Member State should determine the penalties to be imposed in the event of an infringement of the provisions adopted for the implementation of this Directive.

(16) For the purposes of transparency, it is desirable to list in an Annex the national public holidays upon which driving bans currently apply. The Commission will amend this Annex at the request of Member States,

(17) In order to ensure that driving bans on heavy goods vehicles do not exacerbate inequalities in respect of social conditions or working conditions for drivers, accompanying social measures should be adopted, taking account in particular of the geographical origin of traffic.

(18) Member States which impose driving bans, forcing drivers to spend a weekend or part of a weekend in lorry parks, should ensure that there are sufficient parking spaces and sanitary facilities available.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

This Directive establishes a transparent system of harmonised rules and information concerning driving restrictions applied for certain periods to heavy goods vehicles undertaking international transport on certain roads of the European Community.

Article 2

For the purposes of this Directive:
	-	"heavy goods vehicle" shall mean all motor vehicles with a gross weight of 7,5 t. and above, used for the transport of goods, including their component parts (tractors or trailers), where the latter are used separately;
	-	"driving restrictions" shall mean a ban on the circulation of heavy goods vehicles for certain periods;
	-	"TENs network" shall mean the network of roads as indicated in Annex I, Section 2 of Decision No 1692/96/EC;
	-	"international transport" shall mean transport operations with a place of departure and place of arrival in two different Member States;
	-	"public holiday" shall mean those public holidays on which a Member State applies a national driving ban;
	-	"cars" shall mean motor vehicles in category M1 as defined in Annex II to Council Directive 70/156/EEC(7);
	-	"load" shall mean at least 1 tonne of cargo, including packaging;
	-	"European road information system" shall mean a system for collecting and disseminating in real time all information relevant to road haulage operators and professional drivers concerning the rules applied to, and the regulation and characteristics of, road traffic on the TENs network, in close coordination with road information centres in the Member States.

Article 3

1. The scope of this Directive is limited to the TENs network.

2. Member States shall not impose driving restrictions on heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport which are stricter than those applied to heavy goods vehicles involved in national transport.

3. Member States may impose driving restrictions for all heavy goods vehicles

	–	from 16 September to 14 June between the hours of 22h00 on Saturday and 22h00 on Sunday, and between the hours of 22h00 on the eve of a public holiday and 22h00 on the day of a public holiday;
	–	from 15 June to 15 September between the hours of 07h00 on Saturday and 22h00 on Sunday, and between the hours of 22h00 on the eve of a public holiday and 22h00 on the day of a public holiday.

4. Member States may impose driving restrictions during the night, from 22h00 to 05h00, which apply to all heavy goods vehicles which do not comply with noise emission standards provided by Commission Directive 96/20/EC(8).

5. Member States with driving restrictions in operation as of 1 November 2000 that exceed the limits laid down in paragraph 3 may continue to apply them. Should the Member State concerned modify these driving restrictions, it can only do so in the sense of alignment with the restrictions mentioned in paragraph 3.

6. Member States may only impose driving restrictions additional to those laid down in paragraphs 3 and 4 on condition that heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport are exempted from those additional driving restrictions.

7. Notwithstanding paragraph 6 Member States may in exceptional cases impose driving restrictions extending the time limits laid down in paragraphs 3 and 4 on heavy goods vehicles, including those undertaking international transport provided that they submit evidence indicating that such additional restrictions can be justified on environmental, road-safety or social grounds and after having received prior agreement from the Commission in accordance with the Committee procedure laid down in Article 9.

The evidence shall include an analysis which justifies the restrictions as a proportional measure by comparison with alternative traffic management measures.

The evidence shall quantify the effects of the additional restrictions on the basis of one or more of the following criteria:
	a)	relevant statistics and/or estimates, both including and excluding the circulation of heavy goods vehicles, concerning traffic density on weekends during different periods of the year (summer, winter, during holiday periods) and possible effects on congestion;
	b)	relevant statistics and/or estimates, both including and excluding the circulation of heavy goods vehicles, concerning rates of accidents both during periods where the additional restrictions would apply and at times when no restrictions are in force;
	c)	relevant data and/or estimates concerning the gaseous emissions saved, or noise pollution reduced by additional restrictions, including the negative effect that bans may have on the emissions of traffic that has been diverted and on traffic concentrated on periods of the week where no restrictions apply;
	d)	a social analysis of the impact of additional restrictions on the average working conditions of drivers of heavy goods vehicles registered both in Member States where these restrictions apply and in the other Member States, taking into account existing Community legislation in this field.

8. Notwithstanding paragraph 6, Member States may impose special driving restrictions on heavy goods vehicles, including those undertaking international transport on the TENs network, on those days and roads where:

	a)	exceptionally high traffic density is expected, for example during public holidays and holiday outward and return journey periods or peak times;
	b)	circulation bans for limited periods of time apply to cars, notably for environmental reasons;
	c)	restrictions for maintenance of infrastructure are considered necessary;
	d)	restrictions are required under special weather conditions, in the event of natural disasters or for urgent reasons of public safety.

Article 4

Heavy goods vehicles and/or particular transport operations as defined in Annex I shall be exempted from the driving restrictions which are laid down in accordance with Articles 3(3), 3(6), 3(7) and point (a) of 3(8).

Article 5

1. Member States wishing to impose extended driving restrictions in accordance with Article 3(7) shall present a request to the Commission.

The Commission shall decide on such request in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 9(2) within two months of receiving it.

2. Member States wishing to impose driving restrictions in accordance with Article 3(3), 3(4), or point (a) of 3(8) shall notify the Commission at least 60 days in advance, giving details of the extent of those restrictions.

3. Member States wishing to amend any of the dates listed in Annex II as their national public holidays on which driving bans apply shall notify the Commission at least 60 days in advance. The Commission shall amend Annex II accordingly.

Article 6

A European road information system shall be set up under the Commission, the task of which shall be to
	-	collect, with the support of road information centres in the Member States, all data concerning the rules applied to, and the regulation and characteristics of, traffic on the TENs network;
	-	process and disseminate such data in real time to road haulage operators and professional drivers within the territory of the Union;
	-	create a monitoring centre for traffic on the TENs network for statistical and analytical purposes.

Article 7

On the basis of the information provided for in Articles 5 and 6, the Commission shall prepare annually by 30 November a report on driving restrictions permitted under Articles 3(3), 3(4) 3(7) and point (a) of 3(8) for heavy goods vehicles performing international operations on the TENs network for the forthcoming year. The Commission shall also prepare a list of infringements of this Directive in each of the Member States and of the penalties applied by the Member States in respect thereof pursuant to Article 10. This information shall be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council.

Article 8

The Commission shall adopt any amendments necessary to adapt Annex I in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 9.

Article 9

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee, composed of representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure laid down in Article 5 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, in compliance with Article 7(3) and Article 8 thereof.

3. The period provided for in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be [3] months.

Article 10

Member States shall determine the penalties applicable to infringements of this Directive and shall take all necessary measures to ensure that they are enforced. The penalties they provide for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify the Commission of those measures no later than the date specified in the first subparagraph of Article 11 and shall notify it of amendments to them without delay.

Article 11

Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 31 December 2004 at the latest. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made.

Member States shall apply these provisions from 1 July 2005.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the texts of the provisions of national law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.

Article 12

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 13

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

(1)	OJ C 198, 24.6.1998, p. 17 and OJ C 120 E, 24.4.2001, p. 3.
(2)	OJ C 407, 28.12.1998, p. 109.
(3)	OJ C 374, 23.12.1999, p. 85.
(4)	Position of the European Parliament of 2 July 2002.
(5)	OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1. Decision as amended by Decision No 1346/2001/EC (OJ L 185, 6.7.2001, p. 1).
(6)	OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(7)	OJ L 42, 23.2.1970, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/116/EC (OJ L 18, 21.1.2002, p. 1).
(8)	OJ L 92, 13.4.1996, p. 23.

ANNEX I

Transport operations/types of vehicles exempt from driving restrictions

Vehicles performing combined transport operations as defined in Council Directive 92/106/EEC(1);

Certified ATP vehicles(2) transporting a load of ATP-defined perishable foodstuffs;

Certified ATP tankers for the transportation of liquid milk at controlled temperatures ;

Vehicles transporting a load of perishable fruits or vegetables;

Vehicles transporting exceptional loads as defined by Article 4(3) of Council Directive 96/53/EC(3);

Vehicles transporting a load of fresh flowers or horticultural products.

(1)	OJ L 368, 17.12.1992, p. 38.
(2)	As defined in the UN-ECE Agreement on the international carriage of perishable foodstuffs and the special equipment to be used for such carriage (ATP).
(3)	OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 59.

ANNEX II

National public holidays on which Member States apply driving bans

National Public Holidays in Austria

New Year"s Day

Epiphany

Easter Monday

Labour Day

Ascension Day

Whit Monday

Corpus Christi

Assumption

Austrian National Day (26 October)

All Saints Day

Immaculate Conception

Christmas Day

St. Stephen"s Day

National Public Holidays in France

New Year"s Day

Easter Monday

Armistice Day (8 May)

Ascension Day

Whit Monday

Bastille Day (14 July)

Assumption

All Saints Day

Armistice Day (11 November)

Christmas Day

National Public Holidays in Germany

New Year"s Day

Good Friday

Easter Monday

Labour Day

Ascension Day

Whit Monday

Day of German Unification (3 October)

Christmas Day

St. Stephen"s Day

National Public Holidays in Italy

New Year"s Day

Epiphany

Good Friday

Easter Monday

Liberation Day (25 April)

Labour Day

All Saints Day

Immaculate Conception

Christmas Day

National Public Holidays in Luxembourg

New Year"s Day

Easter Monday

Labour Day

Ascension Day

Whit Monday

Luxembourg National Day (23 June)

Assumption

All Saints Day

Christmas Day

St. Stephen"s Day

National Public Holidays in Spain

New Year"s Day

Epiphany

Maundy Thursday

Good Friday

Labour Day

All Saints Day

Spanish Constitution Day (6 December)

Immaculate Conception

Christmas Day

Legal notice - Privacy policy