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"BCOUNCIL DIRECTIVE
of 23 November 1988
on standard checking procedures for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 on the
harmonization of certain social legislation relating to road transport and Regulation (EEC) No
3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport
(88/599/EEC)
(OJ L 325, 29.11.1988, p. 55)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
"M1 "C1Council Regulation (EC) No 2135/98 of 24 September
19983 L 274 1 9.10.1998
Corrected by:
"C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 49, 25.2.1999, p. 46 (2135/98)1988L0599 — EN — 10.10.1998 — 001.001 — 1
COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
of 23 November 1988
on standard checking procedures for the implementation of
Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 on the harmonization of certain social
legislation relating to road transport and Regulation (EEC) No
3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport
(88/599/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 75 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Having regard to the resolution of the Council and the representatives of
the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of
20 December 1985 to improve the implementation of the social
regulations in road transport (4),
Whereas Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 (5) and (EEC) No 3821/85 (6)
are important for the creation of a common market for inland transport
services;
Whereas proper application of the social regulations in road transport
requires uniform and effective checking by Member States;
Whereas it is necessary to introduce minimum requirements to check
compliance with the relevant provisions in order to reduce and prevent
infringements;
Whereas the Portuguese Republic has only recently introduced checking
procedures in road transport and should accordingly be permitted to
defer the date of application of this Directive;
Whereas effective and efficient control throughout the Community will
require the exchange of information on, and mutual assistance in, the
enforcement of the regulations in Member States;
Whereas the exchange of information is compulsory and should take
place at regular intervals;
Whereas uniform application of the social regulations on road transport
is necessary to avoid distortions of competition between transport
undertakings as well as to promote road safety and social progress,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Checks
The objective of this Directive is to lay down minimum conditions for
checking the correct and uniform application of Regulations (EEC) No
3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85.!B
(1) OJ No C 116, 3. 5. 1988, p. 17.
(2) Opinion delivered on 17 November 1988 (not yet published in the Official
Journal).
(3) OJ No C 208, 8. 8. 1988, p. 26.
(4) OJ No C 348, 31. 12. 1985, p. 1.
(5) OJ No L 370, 31. 12. 1985, p. 1.
(6) OJ No L 370, 31. 12. 1985, p. 8.1988L0599 — EN — 10.10.1998 — 001.001 — 2
Article 2
Checking systems
1. Member States shall organize a system for appropriate and regular
checks, both at the roadside and at premises of undertakings, covering
each year a large and representative cross-section of drivers, undertak-
ings and vehicles of all transport categories falling within the scope of
Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85.
2. Each Member State shall organize checks in such a way that:— they cover each year at least 1 % of days worked by drivers of
vehicles falling within the scope of Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85
and (EEC) No 3821/85,
— not less than 15 % of the total number of the working days checked
shall be checked at the roadside and not less than 25 % at the
premises of undertakings.
3. The number of drivers checked at the roadside, the numer of checks
at premises of undertakings, the number of working days checked and
the number of infringements reported shall be included, inter alia, in the
information submitted to the Commission in accordance with Article 16
(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85.
Article 3
Roadside checks
1. Roadside checks shall be organized in different places at any time,
covering a sufficiently extensive part of the road network to make it
difficult to avoid checkpoints.
2. The elements of roadside checks are:
— daily driving periods, breaks and daily rest periods; in the case of
clear indications of irregularities, also the preceding days’ record
sheets which have to be carried on board the vehicle in accordance
with Article 15(7) of Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 as amended by
Regulation (EC) No 2135/98 (
1) and/or the data stored for the same
period on the driver card and/or in the memory of the recording
equipment in conformity with Annex IB,
— for the period referred to in Article 15(7) of Regulation (EEC) No
3821/85, any cases where the vehicle’ s authorised speed is exceeded,
to be defined as being any periods of more than 1 minute during
which the vehicle’ s speed exceeds 90 km/h for category N 3vehicles
or 105 km/h for category M 3vehicles (categories N 3and M 3being as
defined in Annex I to Directive 70/156/EEC) (2),
— where appropriate, momentary speeds attained by the vehicle as
recorded by the recording equipment in no more than the previous 24
hours’ use of the vehicle,
— last weekly rest period, where appropriate,
— correct functioning of the recording equipment (determination of
possible misuse of the equipment and/or the driver card and/or
record sheets) or, where appropriate, presence of the documents
referred to in Article 14(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85.
3. Roadside checks shall be carried out without discrimination of
vehicles and drivers, whether resident or not.!B
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2135/98 of 24 September 1998 amending Re-
gulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport andDirective 88/599/EEC concerning the procedures for applying Regulations(EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85 (OJ L 274, 9.10.1998, p. 1).
(
2) Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the approximation of
the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehiclesand their trailers (OJ L 42, 23.2.1970, p. 1). Directive as last amended byDirective 97/27/EC (OJ L 233, 25.8.1997, p. 1).!
M1
!B1988L0599 — EN — 10.10.1998 — 001.001 — 3
4. To facilitate the authorized inspecting officer’ s task, they shall be
provided with:
— a list of the principal points to be checked,
— a language chart containing the expressions currently used and
relating to road transport operations. The Commission will provide
the Member States with such a chart.
5. If the findings of a roadside check on the driver of a vehicle
registrered in another Member State provide grounds to believe that
infringements have been committed which cannot be detected during the
check due to lack of necessary data, the competent authorities of the
Member States concerned shall assist each other to clarify the situation.
In cases where, to this end, the competent Member State carries out a
check at the premises of the undertaking, the results of this check shall be
communicated to the other State concerned.
Article 4
Checks at the premises of undertakings
1. Checks at premises as provided for in Article 2 (1) shall be planned
taking account of past experience of different categories of transport.
Checks shall also be carried out at premsies of undertakings when
serious breaches of Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No
3821/85 have been detected at the roadside.
2. The elements of checks at the premises of undertakings, in addition
to those for roadside checks, are:
— weekly rest periods and driving periods between these rest periods,
— two-weekly limitation of driving hours,
— compensation for reduced daily or weekly rest periods,
— the use of record sheets and/or the organization of drivers’ working
times.
3. For the purposes of this Article, checks carried out at the premises of
the competent authorities, on the basis of relevant documents and/or data
handed over by undertakings at the request of the said authorities, shall
have the same status as checks carried out at the premises of
undertakings.
Article 5
Concerted and coordinated checks
1. Member States shall, at least twice yearly, undertake concerted
operations to check at the roadside drivers and vehicles falling within the
scope of Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85.
2. Such operations shall, wherever possible, be undertaken at the same
time by the enforcement authorities of two or more Member States, each
operating on their own territory.
Article 6
Exchange of information
1. Information made available bilaterally under Article 17 (3) of
Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 and Article 19 (3) of Regulation (EEC)
No 3821/85 shall be exchanged every 12 months beginning six months
after notification of this Directive (1) and also upon a specific request by
a Member State in individual cases.!B
(1) This Directive was notified to the Member States on 24 November 1988.!M1
!B1988L0599 — EN — 10.10.1998 — 001.001 — 4
2. For this purpose, the competent authorities in each Member State
shall use a standard reporting form drawn up by the Commission in
agreement with the Member States.
Article 7
1. With the exception of the Portuguese Republic, Member States shall
bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
necessary to comply with this Directive on 1 January 1989 at the latest.
The Portuguese Republic shall bring the said laws, regulations and
administrative provisions into force on 1 January 1990 at the latest.
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission their laws,
regulations and administrative provisions concerning the application of
this Directive.
Article 8
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.!B1988L0599 — EN — 10.10.1998 — 001.001 — 5