Proposal for a Council Directive on the use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road

(95/C 80/05)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(95) 2 final - 95/0012(SYN)

(Submitted by the Commission on 14 February 1995)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 75 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

In cooperation with the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Whereas, for reasons of clarity and rationality, on the occasion of further amendments Council Directive 84/647/EEC of 19 December 1984, on the use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road (1) should be recast;

Whereas, under the principle of subsidiarity, action should be taken at European Union level in order that such obstacles be removed on a Community-wide basis;

Whereas, from a macroeconomic point of view, the use of hired vehicles permits, in certain situations, an optimum allocation of resources by limiting wasteful production;

Whereas, from a micro-economic point of view, this possibility brings an element of flexibility to the organization of transport, and thus increases the productivity of the undertakings concerned;

Whereas the carriage of goods in the Single Market should be facilitated;

Whereas it should be possible for an undertaking to hire a vehicle in any Member State other than the one of establishment in order to carry out international transport operations;

Whereas Member States should no longer be permitted to exclude own account operations carried out by vehicles with a total permissable laden weight of more than six tonnes from the scope of the Directive;

Whereas Directive 84/647/EEC contains restrictive clauses concerning the two abovementioned points, whose abolition would allow better financial management and cut the costs of hauliers operating on their own account or for hire or reward;

Whereas Council Directive 93/89/EEC of 25 October 1993 on the application by Member States of taxes on certain vehicles used for the carriage of goods by road and tolls and charges for the use of certain infrastructures (2) lists 'vehicle taxes` existing in all Member States;

Whereas road transport taxation has not yet been sufficiently harmonized and, in order to avoid fiscal distortions in international transport, it is at present preferable to provide the possibility for the Member States, in circumstances duly justified by the requirement to avoid the use of hired vehicles on a permanent basis, to limit to a certain extent the validity of the contracts for hiring of vehicles hired in any Member State other than the one of establishment of the lessee.

Whereas the application of the current Directive should be monitored by means of a report to be submitted by the Commission, and any future action in this area should be considered in the light of that report,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE,

Article 1

For the purposes of this Directive:

- 'vehicle` means a motor vehicle, a trailer, a semi-trailer, or a combination of vehicles intended exclusively for the carriage of goods,

- 'hired vehicle` means any vehicle which, for remuneration and for a determined period, is put at the disposal of an undertaking which engages in the carriage of goods by road for hire or reward or for its own account on the basis of a contract with the undertakting which makes the vehicles available,

- 'vehicle taxes` means the taxes referred to in Article 3 of Directive 93/89/EEC.

Article 2

Each Member State shall allow the use within its territory, for the purposes of traffic between Member States, of vehicles hired by undertakings established on the territory of a Member State provided that:

1. the vehicle is registered or put into circulation in compliance with the laws in the Member State of hiring;

2. the contract relates solely to the hiring of a vehicle without a driver and is not accompanied by a service contract concluded with the same undertaking covering driving or accompanying personnel;

3. the hired vehicle is at the sole disposal of the undertaking using it during the period of the hire contract;

4. the hired vehicle is driven by personnel of the undertaking using it;

5. proof of compliance with the above conditions is provided by the following documents, which must be on board the vehicle:

(a) the contract of hire, or a certified extract from that contract giving in particular the name of the lessor, the name of the lessee, the date and duration of the contract and the identification of the vehicle;

(b) where the driver is not the person hiring the vehicle, the driver's employment contract or a certified extract from that contract giving in particular the name of employer, the name of the employee and the date and duration of the employment contract or a recent pay slip.

If need be, the documents referred to in (a) and (b) may be replaced by an equivalent document issued by the competent authorities of the Member State.

Article 3

In circumstances duly justified by the requirement to avoid the use of hired vehicles on a permanent basis, Member States con introduce provisions limiting the validity of the contracts for hiring of vehicles hired in another Member State than the one of establishment of the lessee to carry out international transport operations. The period restricting the maximum duration of the contracts of hire may not in any case be less than two months.

Article 4

This Directive shall not affect the regulations of a Member State which lays down less restrictive conditions for the use of hired vehicles than those specified in Article 2.

Article 5

The undertaking hiring a vehicle is not obliged to register it in his Member State of establishment nor, by consequence, to pay 'vehicle taxes` which are defined in Article 1, in its Member State.

Article 6

Without prejudice to Article 2, this Directive shall not affect the application of the national and Community rules concerning:

- the organization of the market for the carriage of goods by road for hire or reward and own account and in particular access to the market and, in particular, concerning quota restrictions on road capacities,

- conditions for the carriage of goods by road,

- the formation of hire prices,

- the import of vehicles,

- the conditions governing access to the activity or occupation of road-vehicle lessor,

- user charges,

- value added taxes.

Article 7

In view of achieving a complete liberalization of the use of road transport vehicles, the Commission shall report to the Council before 1 July 1998, on the application of this Directive.

In the light of the conclusions of this report and of the market situation following the termination of all quota restrictions to carry cabotage, the Commission will present, before July 1999, a proposal of amendment widening the scope of the Directive.

Article 8

Directive 84/647/EEC is hereby repealed, without prejudice to the obligation of the Member States concerning the deadlines for transposition into national law set out in Annex 1, Part B, from the date of entry into force of this Directive as laid down in Article 9.

References to the repealed Directive shall be taken as references to this Directive and shall be read according to the correlation table set out in Annex II.

Article 9

Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions needed to comply with this Directive no later than 31 December 1996. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When the Member States adopt these provisions these shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference at the time of their official publication: the procedure for such reference shall be adopted by Member States.

Article 10

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 11

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) OJ No L 335, 22. 12. 1984, p. 72. Directive as amended by Directive 90/398/EEC (OJ No L 202, 31. 7. 1990, p. 46).

(2) OJ No L 279, 12. 11. 1993, p. 32.

ANNEX I

PART A

Repealed Directives (referred to in Article 8)

1. Directive 84/647/EEC except Article 6

2. Directive 90/398/EEC

PART B

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ANNEX II

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