Road transport: conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator

2007/0098(COD)

The Council held a public policy debate on three legislative proposalsthat seek to modernise, replace and merge legislation governing road transport operators and access to the road transport markets (see COD/2007/0097 and COD/2007/0099).

Ministers were invited to agree in principle to the outline of the presidency compromise package on the key elements of two of the three proposals.

The Council broadly supported the presidency compromise as a good basis for further work on these proposals and invited Coreper to pursue examination of the outstanding issues with the objective of reaching a political agreement on all these proposals at the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in June 2008. The presidency compromise focuses in particular on two main issues, cabotage and national electronic registers.

Delegations shared in principle the objectives of the Commission's proposal on access to the profession of road transport operator. A majority of delegations supported the presidency compromise on this proposal, which includes the national electronic register issue in particular. The presidency proposed the following:

  • Member States will have to establish a national register 18 months after entry into force of this Regulation;
  • these registers will be interconnected by 31 December 2012;
  • serious infringements will be included in the register from 1 January 2015.

Other elements of the compromise concern the following elements in particular: subject matter and scope, the role of the transport manager, examination and registration of applications and checks.