Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2002:424
Date: 2002-07-04
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Transport
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

SUMMARY — JOINED CASES C-228/01 AND C-289/01 
Summary of the Judgment 
1. Transport — Road transport — Use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage 
of goods — Directive 84/647 — Scope 
(Council Directive 84/647, Art. 2) 
2. Preliminary rulings — Jurisdiction of the Court — Identification of the relevant 
points of Community law 
(Art. 234 EC) 
3. Transport — Road transport — Access to the market for the carriage of goods — 
Use of vehicles hired without drivers — Community authorisation — Nontrans­
ferability of that authorisation from the lessor of the vehicles to the lessee 
(Council Regulation No 881/92, Arts 1, 3 and 5) 
4. Transport — Road transport — Social legislation — Use of vehicles hired without 
drivers for the carriage of goods — Management of tachographs the responsibility of 
the lessee of the vehicles 
(Council Regulation No 3821/85, Art. 14) 
5. Transport — Road transport — Use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage 
of goods — Directive 84/647 — Place of registration of the vehicles 
(Council Directive 84/647, Arts 2 and 4) 
1. Article 2 of Directive 84/647 on the use 
of vehicles hired without drivers for the 
carriage of goods by road, as amended 
by Directive 90/398, sets out the con­
ditions in which each Member State 
must allow the use within its territory, 
for the purposes of traffic between 
Member States, of vehicles hired by 
undertakings established within the 
territory of another Member State, 
but it does not govern the use of 
carriage authorisations and tachograph 
discs of the hired vehicles. 
(see paras 29-32) 
I - 10214 
BOURRASSE AND PERCHICOT 
2. In order to provide a satisfactory 
answer to the national court which 
has referred a question to it, the Court 
of Justice may deem it necessary to 
consider provisions of Community law 
to which the national court has not 
referred in its question. 
(see para. 33) 
3. Articles 3 and 5 of Regulation 
No 881/92 on access to the market in 
the carriage of goods by road within 
the Community to or from the territory 
of a Member State or passing across the 
territory of one or more Member State 
do not permit a road haulage company 
established in one Member State, 
which hires out vehicles without 
drivers to a road haulage company 
established in another Member State to 
transfer the benefit of its own Com­
munity authorisation to the lessee. 
According to the combined provisions 
of Articles 1(1) and 3(1) of that regu­
lation, a Community authorisation is 
required to carry out the international 
carriage of goods by road for hire or 
reward within the territory of the 
Community and, pursuant to 
Article 5(1) and (2) of the same regu­
lation, that authorisation is to be issued 
by the authorities of the Member State 
in which the transport undertaking is 
established, which will issue the holder 
with the original and the number of 
certified true copies of the authori­
sation corresponding to the number of 
vehicles at the disposal of the holder, 
including those held under hire 
contracts. Consequently, it is for the 
lessee not the lessor to obtain a Com­
munity authorisation for the hired 
vehicles from the authorities of the 
Member State in which he is estab­
lished. Furthermore, under Article 5(4) 
of the regulation, the Community auth­
orisation is to be made out in the 
haulier's name and he may not transfer 
it to any third party. 
(see paras 34-35, 38, operative part 1) 
4. Article 14 of Regulation No 3821/85 
on recording equipment in road trans­
port both in its original version and in 
that resulting from Regulation 
No 2135/98 does not permit a road 
haulage company established in one 
Member State, which hires out vehicles 
without drivers to a road haulage 
company established in another 
Member State to retain the manage­
ment of the tachograph discs of the 
I - 10215 
SUMMARY — JOINED CASES C-228/01 AND C-289/01 
h i r e d veh i c l e s s i n c e , u n d e r 
Article 14(1) and (2), it is the employer 
who issues the discs to the drivers, 
replaces them where necessary and 
then retains them for at least a year. 
(see paras 36-38, operative part 1) 
5. Article 2(1) of Directive 84/647 on the 
use of vehicles hired without drivers for 
the carriage of goods by road, as 
amended by Directive 90/398, should 
be interpreted as meaning that, subject 
to the possible application of Article 4 
of that directive, which allows the 
Member States to lay down less 
restrictive conditions, vehicles hired 
without drivers must be registered in 
the Member State in which the lessee 
road haulage company is established, 
since Article 2(1) of that directive pro­
vides that each Member State is to 
allow the use within its territory of 
vehicles hired by undertakings estab­
lished in the territory of another 
Member State provided that, inter alia, 
the vehicles are registered or put into 
circulation in compliance with the laws 
in the Member State in which the lessee 
haulier is established. 
(see paras 40-42, operative part 2) 
I - 10216