Proposal for a Council Directive on a transparent system of harmonised rules for driving restrictions on heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport on designated roads (98/C 198/08) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(1998) 115 final - 98/0096(SYN)

(Submitted by the Commission on 25 May 1998)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular points (a), (c) and (d) of Article 75(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

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

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189c of the Treaty, in cooperation with the European Parliament,

(1) Whereas there are currently no harmonised rules across the Community on driving restrictions for heavy goods vehicles on Sundays and public holidays;

(2) Whereas this lack of harmonised rules results in differences as regards the duration of driving restrictions and definitions of vehicles exempt from those restrictions;

(3) Whereas this situation has significant negative consequences for the freedom to provide transport services in the Community;

(4) Whereas the existence of driving bans which differ from Member State to Member State makes it impossible to make round trips over long distances without excessive interruptions; whereas peripheral regions of the Community are, in particular, highly and disproportionately affected by such driving restrictions because of their geographical situation;

(5) Whereas, in accordance with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles as set out in Article 3b of the Treaty, the objectives of the proposed action, namely to establish a transparent system of harmonised rules for driving restrictions, thereby ensuring that the negative consequences for the freedom to provide transport services are reduced as far as possible, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can, therefore, by reason of the scale of the action be better achieved by the Community; whereas this Directive confines itself to the minimum required in order to achieve those objectives and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose;

(6) Whereas it is desirable that, in particular for international transport, the negative impact of driving restrictions be minimised; whereas it would be desirable that certain roads, indicated in Annex I, Section 2 of Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (1), be kept open for international transport; whereas therefore such roads should only be subject to driving bans during certain hours on Sundays and public holidays; whereas the Commission should be notified of such driving restrictions;

(7) Whereas this maximum permitted duration should be extendible when such extension can be justified on environmental, road-safety or social grounds; whereas a request for such an extension should be examined without delay by the Commission with the assistance of a committee;

(8) Whereas Member States should be able to restrict the circulation during the night of heavy goods vehicles whose noise exceeds Community standards; whereas Member States should also be able to restrict heavy goods vehicles when exceptionally high traffic density is expected, for example during holiday periods; whereas the Commission should be notified of such driving restrictions;

(9) Whereas under special environmental or weather conditions Member States should be able to restrict the circulation of heavy goods vehicles on grounds of environmental protection or road safety; whereas for practical reasons, it should be possible to adopt such restrictions without notifying the Commission;

(10) Whereas the types of heavy goods vehicles or transport operations which are exempted from bans in all Member States should be harmonised;

(11) Whereas the introduction of driving restrictions at national, regional and local level is currently done in an uncoordinated manner and, therefore, a system of notification on the timing and extent of these restrictions should be established; whereas on the basis of these notifications the Commission should produce an annual report to the Member States;

(12) Whereas to amend the Annex and to consider certain restrictions to be introduced by Member States, the Commission should be assisted by a committee of an advisory nature;

(13) Whereas each Member State should determine the penalties to be imposed in the event of an infringement of the provisions adopted for the implementation of this Directive,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

This Directive establishes a transparent system of harmonised rules concerning driving restrictions applied for certain periods to heavy goods vehicles undertaking international transport on certain roads of the Community.

Article 2

For the purposes of this Directive:

(a) 'heavy goods vehicle`: shall mean all motor vehicles with a gross weight of 7,5 t and above, used for the transport of goods;

(b) 'driving restrictions`: shall mean a ban on the circulation of heavy goods vehicles for certain periods;

(c) 'trunk roads`: shall mean the network of roads as indicated in Annex I, Section 2 of Decision No 1692/96/EC;

(d) 'other roads`: shall mean all roads other than trunk roads;

(e) 'international transport`: shall mean transport operations with a place of departure and place of arrival in two different Member States;

(f) 'public holiday`: shall mean any day defined as a public holiday by a Member State;

(g) 'cars`: shall mean motor vehicles in category M1 as defined in Annex II to Council Directive 70/156/EEC (2);

(h) 'load`: shall mean at least 1 tonne of cargo, including packaging.

Article 3

1. Member States shall not impose driving restrictions on heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport which are stricter than those applied to heavy goods vehicles involved in national transport.

2. Member States may impose driving restrictions for all heavy goods vehicles on Sundays and public holidays between the hours of 7h00 - 22h00 from 1 October to 31 March and between 7h00 - 24h00 from 1 April to 30 September.

3. Member States may impose driving restrictions during the night, from 22h00 to 5h00, which apply to all heavy goods vehicles which do not comply with noise emission standards provided by Commission Directive 96/20/EC (3).

4. On trunk roads Member States may only impose driving restrictions additional to those laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 on condition that heavy goods vehicles involved in international transport are exempted from those additional driving restrictions.

5. On other roads Member States may impose driving restrictions additional to those laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3.

6. Notwithstanding paragraph 4 on trunk roads Member States may impose driving restrictions extending the time limits laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 on heavy goods vehicles, including undertaking international transport, provided that they submit evidence that such additional restrictions can be justified on environmental, road-safety or social grounds, and after having received the prior consent of the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 8.

The evidence shall include an analysis which justifies the restrictions as a proportional measure by comparison with alternative traffic management measures.

The evidence shall quantify the effects of the additional restrictions on the basis of one or more of the following criteria:

(a) relevant statistics and/or estimates, both including and excluding the circulation of heavy goods vehicles, concerning traffic density on weekends during different periods of the year (summer, winter, during holiday periods) and possible effects on congestion;

(b) relevant statistics and/or estimates, both including and excluding the circulation of heavy goods vehicles, concerning rates of accidents both during periods where the additional restrictions would apply and at times when no restrictions are in force;

(c) relevant data and/or estimates concerning the exhaust emissions saved by additional restrictions, including the negative effect that bans may have on the emissions of diversionary traffic and on traffic concentrated on periods of the week where no restrictions apply;

(d) social analysis on the impact of additional restrictions on the average working conditions of drivers of heavy goods vehicles registered both in Member States where these restrictions apply and in the other Member States, taking into account existing Community legislation in this field.

7. Notwithstanding paragraph 4, Member States may, as regards trunk roads, impose special driving restrictions on heavy goods vehicles, including those undertaking international transport, on those days and roads where:

(a) exceptionally high traffic density is expected, for example during holiday periods;

(b) circulation bans for a limited period of time applying to cars, notably for environmental reasons;

(c) restrictions for maintenance of infrastructure are deemed necessary;

(d) restrictions under special weather conditions are required.

Article 4

Heavy goods vehicles and/or particular transport operations as defined in the Annex shall be exempted from the driving restrictions which are laid down in accordance with Articles 3(2), 3(5), 3(6) and point (a) of Article 3(7).

Article 5

1. Member States wishing to impose extended driving restrictions in accordance with Article 3(6) shall present a request to the Commission.

The Commission shall decide on such request in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 8, within two months of its receipt.

2. Member States wishing to impose driving restrictions in accordance with Article 3(2), 3(3) or point (a) of Article 3(7) shall notify the Commission, giving details of the extent of those restrictions, including the public holidays on which such driving restrictions shall apply.

Article 6

On the basis of the information provided in Article 5, the Commission will prepare annually by 30 November a report on driving restrictions permitted under Articles 3(2), 3(3), 3(6) and point (a) of Article 3(7) for heavy goods vehicles performing international operations on the trans-European road network for the forthcoming year.

Article 7

The Commission shall adopt any amendments necessary to adapt the Annex in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 8.

Article 8

The Commission shall be assisted by a Committee of an advisory nature composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission.

The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Commission a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary by taking a vote.

The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition each Member State shall have the right to ask to have its position noted in the minutes.

The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform the Committee of the manner in which its opinion has been taken into account.

Article 9

Member States shall determine the penalties applicable to infringements of this Directive and shall take all necessary measures to ensure that they are enforced. The penalties they provide for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify the Commission of those measures no later than the date specified in the first subparagraph of Article 10(1) and shall notify it of amendments to them without delay.

Article 10

1. Member States shall adopt and publish, by 31 December 1998, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary in order to comply with this Directive. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When 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.

Member States shall apply the provisions from 1 July 1999.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the texts of the provisions of national law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.

Article 11

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

Article 12

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) OJ L 228, 9.9.1996, p. 1; Corrigendum published in OJ L 15, 17.1.1997, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 42, 23.2.1970, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 92, 13.4.1996, p. 23.

ANNEX

Transport operations/types of vehicles exempt from driving restrictions

Vehicles performing combined transport operations as defined in Council Directive 92/106/EEC (1);

Certified ATP vehicles (2) transporting a load of ATP-defined perishable foodstuffs;

Certified ATP tankers for the transportation of liquid milk at controlled temperatures;

Vehicles transporting a load of perishable fruits or vegetables;

Vehicles transporting exceptional loads as defined by Article 4(3) of Council Directive 96/53/EC (3).

(1) OJ L 368, 17.12.1992, p. 38.

(2) As defined in the UN-ECE Agreement on the international carriage of perishable foodstuffs and the special equipment to be used for such carriage (ATP).

(3) OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 59.