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 amending Regulations (EC) No 1071/2009, (EC) No 1072/2009 and (EU) No 1024/2012 with a view to adapting them to developments in the road transport sector.
The objective of the proposed Regulation is to modernise the rules governing admission to the occupation of road transport operator and access to the road transport market with a view to ensuring the proper functioning of the single market in the road transport sector.
The draft legislative act:
- provides that the use of light commercial vehicles over 2.5 tonnes shall also be subject to the Union rules applicable to carriers, in particular as regards the installation of a tachograph to record each border crossing;
- allows a better fight against ‘letter-box’ companies: road transport undertakings should be able to demonstrate that they have a significant volume of business in the Member State where they are registered. Lorries shall also have to return to the company's operational centre every eight weeks;
- introduces a transitional period of four days in order to combat systematic cabotage during which no further cabotage operations would be allowed in the same Member State with the same vehicle;
- includes additional elements in the national electronic registers and introduces specific provisions to improve administrative cooperation between Member States;
- obliges Member States to lay down rules subjecting consignors, freight forwarders, contractors and subcontractors to sanctions in cases where they knew that the performance of the transport services commissioned was in breach of the Regulation.