P9_TA(2021)0480

The safety of truck parking lots in the EU

European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2021 on the safety of truck parking lots in the EU (2021/2918(RSP))

(2022/C 224/09)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty on European Union,

— having regard to Articles 4, 26, 67, 73, 87, 88 and 91 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

— having regard to Directive 2008/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on road infrastructure safety management (1), as amended by Directive (EU) 2019/1936 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 amending Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management (2),

— having regard to Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transport (3),

— having regard to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 885/2013 of 15 May 2013 supplementing ITS Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the provision of information services for safe and secure parking places for trucks and commercial vehicles (4),

— having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU (5),

— having regard to Decision No 585/2014/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the deployment of the interoperable EU-wide eCall service (6),

— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1316/2013 and (EU) No 283/2014, in particular its Article 9(2)(b)(vii) (7),

— having regard to Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2020 amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as regards minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 as regards positioning by means of tachographs (8),

— having regard to the deliberations on Petition No 0549/2021 during the meeting of the Committee on Petitions of 15 July 2021,

— having regard to Rule 227(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the Committee on Petitions has received Petition No 0549/2021, signed by 22 735 people, which raises concerns about truck parking areas on the EU road network and calls for preventive measures to reduce the risk and magnitude of the safety problems in truck parking areas;

B. whereas organised crime groups are often involved in cargo thefts and frequently target high-value products, such as electronics, tobacco and pharmaceutical products, causing significant economic losses (9), which amounted to approximately EUR 52 million between 2017 and 2019; whereas these figures are not comprehensive owing to the lack of reporting and sharing of relevant data on cargo crimes;

C. whereas these criminal groups are becoming more organised, use cutting-edge technology and in many cases make moorings on demand, and whereas according to the Europol Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2021, the use of violence by criminals involved in serious and organised crime in the EU appears to have been increasing, with victims being targeted indiscriminately without regard for their involvement or standing, often causing harm to innocent bystanders;

D. whereas the European Union should combat crime and organised crime on the EU road network and should promote the effective movement of goods in a safe manner and without additional costs linked to overexposure to the risk of assault;

E. whereas international road transport drivers spend longer periods away from their home and families, meaning that safe, secure and well-equipped parking infrastructure across the EU is of crucial importance for their physical and mental health;

F. whereas work, rest and break periods of international haulage drivers are subject to strict rules aiming to create a safe, efficient and socially accountable road transport sector in the European Union; whereas it is responsibility of both the EU institutions and the Member States to provide adequate and EU-wide accessible parking infrastructure that renders working and rest time rules proportionate and feasible;

G. whereas poor resting conditions and the high risk of crime and assault are the main factors that make the driver profession so unattractive; whereas the lack of drivers is an ever-increasing problem challenging the effective functioning of the single market, logistics and supply chains and other sectors such as manufacturing and retail;

1. Recalls that a Commission study of 2019 points out that there is a lack of an estimated 100 000 overnight parking spaces for trucks in the EU, while this shortfall is even greater for certified secure parking areas ( 10 )

2. Declares that secure and safe truck parking areas (SSTPAs) are needed to ensure socially fair conditions for professional drivers when they take compulsory rests; recalls that the road transport industry is suffering from an acute driver shortage; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the availability of a sufficient number of high-quality SSTPAs and the proportionate application of penalties by Member States; underscores the need to take action in the event of any form of unfair treatment of or discrimination against EU truckers and transport companies;

3. Deplores the attacks on carriers in the truck parking areas, including deadly attacks, and recalls that these attacks are often committed by well-organised and well-equipped gangs that sometimes steal goods to order and often use the income from these offences to fund other forms of serious crime;

4. Deplores the fact that this kind of episode might have a xenophobic or racist aspect;

5. Acknowledges that property crime against trucks is increasingly of a cross-border nature and represents the main security threat for truck drivers; highlights that enhanced cooperation is needed in order to properly tackle such crime, and requests more structural exchange of information and operational coordination between Member State law enforcement authorities with the support of Europol, including enhanced cooperation with private parties, such as the Transported Asset Protection Association and the European Secure Parking Organisation;

6. Calls on the Member States to systematically report crimes to Europol in order to ensure coherent responses through operational and analytical support, and calls on the Commission to further strengthen Europol’s capabilities in this area by increasing its resources and staff;

7. Calls on the Commission to encourage an increase in available truck parking lots and to improve their quality, safety and connectivity using legislative initiatives, European structural and investment fund programmes, mechanisms for promoting cooperation between the competent authorities of the Member States and other available instruments, such as the Connecting Europe Facility funding programme;

8. Urges the Commission and the Council to take the necessary measures to establish and develop police cooperation involving the competent authorities of all Member States to prevent, detect and investigate criminal offences on roads and in parking areas;

9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to include objectives and approaches to increase the number of SSTPAs in the final partnership agreements on the European structural and investment funds and in the programmes for these funds;

10. Welcomes the establishment of the Commission’s Expert Group on Road Infrastructure Safety, which will seek the advice and expertise of Member States and other relevant stakeholders on this topic, including for the preparation of non-legislative acts, as well as the establishment of the High-Level Group on Road Safety, which will provide strategic advice and frequent feedback; urges the Commission to accelerate work in this area and to coordinate with Member States so as to achieve concrete improvements for the EU’s truck drivers;

11. Stresses the importance of implementing projects aimed at promoting national and international cooperation in the fight against cargo theft, creating an overview of ongoing procedures and optimising case work at operational level;

12. Recalls the importance of ensuring priority funding for the creation and upgrading of SSTPAs in the EU by making use of all available EU and Member State funding programmes;

13. Calls on the Member States to assume their primary responsibility for improving the safety of truck parking areas by means of well-established national road safety strategies and concrete measures set out in action plans and implementation plans, which form the basis of a genuine EU road safety culture;

14. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to join forces to improve the quality of the services in truck parking areas, including by offering basic affordable features, and to improve their security, while ensuring that independent third-party audits based on common EU standards will be conducted for all secure truck parking areas within the system, this to guarantee that infrastructure conforms to EU safety and security standards e.g. in line with Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management;

15. Regrets that divergent interpretations persist in relation to parking security and safety standards and certification requirements and emphasises the importance of creating a harmonised EU standard containing clear and unambiguous rules on safety and comfort levels;

16. Calls on the Commission to fulfil the commitments enshrined in Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 to establish standards and certification procedures for safe and secure truck parking facilities in the EU;

17. Underscores that EU standards detailing the level of service and security of SSTPAs and procedures for the certification of such parking areas must be made mandatory in order to ensure and provide a consistent definition of secure truck parking areas and a coherent legislative framework;

18. Calls for the coverage and effectiveness of emergency and immediate response services to be improved and for call systems for the notification to the competent authorities to be introduced in all official languages; urges the Member States to implement an immediate response system when a crime against a driver or a truck is committed within their national jurisdiction and to avoid cases when a driver does not receive timely assistance from national public security authorities due to the minor nature of the crime, linguistic barriers or on any other grounds;

19. Requests the introduction of regular security/police patrols in parking areas where security services cannot be constantly provided, but attacks on carriers have been reported;

20. Highlights the importance of strengthening data collection mechanisms, information exchange and analytical support, and calls on the Member States to implement effective models for automated data gathering, processing and sharing in order to improve the operational response of police forces to cross-border crime;

21. Points out that information about the location of SSTPAs should be conveyed in a user-friendly manner to drivers and to the entire logistics chain via digital tools and asks the Commission to achieve this goal by setting a basis for interoperable ICT solutions that will allow drivers to find and book secure parking areas and plan their trips accordingly;

22. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote existing in-vehicle safety systems and any kind of intelligent warning tool and their connection with police and emergency services;

23. Calls on the Commission to propose measures for the revision of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 885/2013 and Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013;

24. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to explore and suggest concrete measures for the protection of victims of crimes committed in unprotected truck parking areas, such as access to medical assistance, legal advice, an interpreter etc.;

25. Welcomes the decision of the Committee on Petitions to set up a fact-finding mission to further investigate the facts described in Petition No 0549/2021, to deliver new details on the safety of truck parking areas and to assess the challenges on the ground;

26. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

(1) OJ L 319, 29.11.2008, p. 59.

(2) OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 207, 6.8.2010, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 247, 18.9.2013, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 348, 20.12.2013, p. 1.

(6) OJ L 164, 3.6.2014, p. 6.

(7) OJ L 249, 14.7.2021, p. 38.

(8) OJ L 249, 31.7.2020, p. 1.

(9) Europol Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2021: ‘The losses caused by cargo crime in the eight most affected Member States exceeded EUR 75 million in 2019 and have a significant impact on supply chains’.

(10) 2019 Commission case study on safe and secure parking for trucks, p. 24. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/default/files/2019-study-on-safe-and-secure-parking-places-for-trucks.pdf