The European Parliament approved, in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, the Council's position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on electronic freight transport information.
The general objective of the proposal is to encourage the digital exchange of freight transport and logistics in order to reduce administrative costs, improve the enforcement capacity of competent authorities and enhance the efficiency and sustainability of transport. It aims to establish a legal framework for the electronic communication of regulatory information between the economic operators concerned and competent authorities in relation to the transport of goods on the territory of the Union.
The draft legislative act requires competent authorities to accept regulatory information (for certain legal acts) in electronic form and establishes a framework of certified platforms and service providers (by conformity assessment bodies).
The general agreement concluded by the Parliament with the Council:
- minimises costs for economic operators and competent authorities, by, among others, base the certification system on existing international standards, models and agreements and ensure that certification is done in an independent manner;
- enhances the procedure for the setting of the precise standards, specifications and access rules, with the proper involvement of the co-legislators and of all relevant stakeholders;
- encourages all communication, including any follow-up requests, between the competent authorities and operators to take place electronically, where possible;
- clarifies the scope by indicating exactly what type of regulatory freight transport information, if sent in electronic form by the economic operator concerned through a certified platform, needs to be accepted by the competent authorities;
- states that the use of electronic means should become the main means of exchanging regulatory information between economic operators and competent authorities;
- encourages existing IT systems to be certified as a platform while ensuring interoperability;
- sets the various deadlines so that the system is operational as soon as possible, so that market uptake can take place soon.
The Commission is required to:
- assess whether the scope could be further enlarged to include other relevant regulatory information in the field of transport, for example those relating to the vehicle or driver;
- assess possible initiatives in order to establish in the future an obligation for economic operators to use electronic means to make regulatory information available to competent authorities.