WRITTEN QUESTION E-2713/03 by Kathleen Van Brempt (PSE) to the Commission. Tispol road safety checks.
Date: 2003-09-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Belgium, EU financing, EU police cooperation, police checks, road safety, traffic offence

13.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 65 E/197

In all, 1 031 individuals, whether under suspicion or arrested, have been identified as being responsible for
producing and/or distributing counterfeit euro notes.

Protection of euro notes and coins is the responsibility of the competent national authorities, the European
Central Bank, Europol and the Commission.

The Commission exercises its responsibility in three fields:

(cid:1) legislation, where it takes the appropriate initiatives (e.g. Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 (1)) to protect
notes and coins and carries out the appropriate monitoring work. The Commission recently adopted
its second report on the implementation of the Framework Decision of 29 May 2000 on the
protection of the euro by way of criminal penalties;

(cid:1) training and technical assistance via the financing or co-financing of projects for protecting euro notes

and coins under the Pericles programme;

(cid:1) coordination of measures taken by Member States to provide technical protection for coins against
including management of the European Technical and Scientific Centre, which is

counterfeiting,
responsible for analysing counterfeit coins.

In order to carry out its task, the Commission cooperates closely with Member States and with the other
European institutions and has set up several working groups.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1338/2001 of 28 June 2001 laying down measures necessary for the protection of the

euro against counterfeiting, OJ L 181, 4.7.2001.

(2004/C 65 E/214)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2713/03

by Kathleen Van Brempt (PSE) to the Commission

(11 September 2003)

Subject: Tispol road safety checks

Tispol, the European Network of Traffic Police, regularly organises national road safety checks at the same
In answer to Written Question E-2276/02 (1), the Commission
time in different EU Member States.
announced that measures would take place from mid-2002 to mid-2003.

Can the Commission provide more information on the results of these measures? How many people were
stopped and fined? What did these checks cost and what was the EU’s financial contribution?

Can the Commission give details of the results of the Tispol measures in Belgium?

What is the Commission’s assessment of the recent Tispol enforcement measures and what are its plans for
the future? Will there be more Europe-wide coordinated road safety checks in the next few years? If so, can
the Commission provide more information about this?

(1) OJ C 52 E, 6.3.2003, p. 148.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(21 October 2003)

The Commission has received information concerning the results of concerted European-wide traffic
controls by Tispol over the period mid 2002 to mid 2003.

C 65 E/198

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

13.3.2004

These enforcement actions focused on three domains in particular: alcohol and drugs, control of trucks,
and control of buses and coaches.

The main results of these actions are:

(cid:1) For alcohol and drugs controls: three such controls have been arranged, on 2 and 3 November 2002,
14 and 15 February 2003 and 20 and 21 July 2003 respectively. A total of 259 974 drivers were
checked and 9 924 were found to have committed an offence and were arrested. The scope of the
controls was increased to include drugs and driving impairment, which has been identified as an
increasing problem area. Under this scope, 188 persons were found to have committed drug related
offences. All member countries of Tispol participated in these actions (1). During these campaigns,
attention has also been given by enforcement officers to the wearing of seat belts and the speed at
which the vehicles have been driven.

(cid:1) Controls of trucks: Tispol has conducted three enforcement campaigns (Operation Mermaid), on
13 September 2002, 21 March 2003 and 10 June 2003 and as a result 120 926 commercial vehicles
(trucks) have been checked. These campaigns, which were carried out in co-operation with Euro
Control Route, the European organisation of transport enforcement officers, resulted in a wide variety
of offences being detected; 46 927 truck drivers had committed one or more offences, among others
in the field of drivers hours,
tachograph, alcohol, speed, drivers disqualification or dangerous
condition, overweight or insecure load of the vehicle; 3 232 persons were arrested.

(cid:1) Controls of buses and coaches: Tispol has organised three campaigns (Operation Bus), namely on
27 August 2002, 10 to 16 February 2003, and 19 July 2003. They were in particular aimed at
checking long distance coach drivers who transverse several countries, since the published timetables
of some operators clearly indicated that some abuse of the legislation was necessary to achieve the
targets set. Enforcement officers checked 28 470 passenger service vehicles and detected 3 835 offences
ranging from breaches of drivers hours legislation to dangerous vehicles. A total of 138 people were
arrested.

Concerning the results on Belgian territory,
Commission:
225 persons being arrested.
1 195 offences found. Operation Bus checked 711 vehicles and found 315 offences.

the following data have been made available to the
for the alcohol campaigns, 4 518 drivers were checked, and the controls resulted in
In the truck-control campaigns, 3 530 vehicles were checked and

As for the costs of these controls, the Commission would like to refer to the reply given to the Honourable
Member’s Written Question E-2276/02 (2) on the same subject. As these controls are performed in the
course of normal police enforcement activities, any information on their cost would have to be requested
from the police authorities of the participating Member States.

On the basis of the results described above,
it is the opinion of the Commission that these Tispol
enforcement actions contribute to improved road safety. On one hand they prove that co-ordinated actions
between enforcement bodies of two or more Member States are very efficient to expose problems in the
areas which the campaigns are aimed at, on the other hand, they have a preventive effect by deterring
potential offenders. The nature of random and unexpected controls, combined with a targeted approach
and the publicity raised by these concerted campaigns, offer a clear added value and contribute to the
sharing of good practices between the Member States.

Given the positive results of Tispol control actions, the Commission is considering relevant legislative
proposals which it hopes that will be discussed during the Italian Presidency.

(1) These countries are now: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain (incl. Canary Islands), France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland.

(2) OJ C 52 E, 6.3.2003.