Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road (Codified version)
Date: 2003-09-24
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, common transport policy, road transport, vehicle rental

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 24.9.2003
COM(2003) 559 final

2003/0221 (COD)

Proposal for a

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road

(Codified version)

(presented by the Commission)

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

In  the  context  of  a  people’s  Europe,  the  Commission  attaches  great  importance  to
simplifying  and  clarifying  Community  law  so  as  to  make  it  clearer  and  more
accessible to the ordinary citizen, thus giving him new opportunities and the chance
to make use of the specific rights it gives him.

This aim cannot be achieved so long as numerous provisions that have been amended
several times, often quite substantially, remain scattered, so that they must be sought
partly  in  the  original  instrument  and  partly  in  later  amending  ones.  Considerable
research work, comparing many different instruments, is thus needed to identify the
current rules.

For  this  reason  a  codification  of  rules  that  have  frequently  been  amended  is  also
essential if Community law is to be clear and transparent.

On  1  April  1987  the  Commission  therefore  decided1  to  instruct  its  staff  that  all
legislative acts should be codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing that
this  is  a minimum requirement and that  departments  should  endeavour  to  codify  at
even  shorter  intervals  the  texts  for  which  they  are  responsible,  to  ensure  that  the
Community rules are clear and readily understandable.

The  Conclusions  of 
the  Edinburgh  European  Council
(December 1992) confirmed this2, stressing the importance of codification as it offers
certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time.

the  Presidency  of 

Codification  must  be  undertaken  in  full  compliance  with  the  normal  Community
legislative procedure.

Given  that  no  changes  of  substance  may  be  made  to  the  instruments  affected  by
codification, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed,
by  an  interinsitutional  agreement  dated  20  December  1994,  that  an  accelerated
procedure may be used for the fast-track adoption of codification instruments.

is 

this  proposal 

to  undertake  a  codification  of  Council
The  purpose  of 
Directive 84/647/EEC  of  19  December  1984  on  the  use  of  vehicles  hired  without
drivers  for  the  carriage  of  goods  by  road3.  The  new  Directive  will  supersede  the
various acts incorporated in it4; this proposal fully preserves the content of the acts
being  codified  and  hence  does  no  more  than  bring  them  together  with  only  such
formal amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself.

COM(87) 868 PV.
See Annex 3 to Part A of the Conclusions.
Carried out pursuant to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the
Council – Codification of the Acquis communautaire, COM(2001) 645 final.
See Annex I, Part A of this proposal.

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5.

The codification proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation,
in all official languages, of Directive 84/647/EEC and the instruments amending it,
carried out by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, by
means  of  a  data-processing  system.  Where  the  Articles  have  been  given  new
numbers, the correlation  between the old and the new  numbers  is  shown  in  a  table
contained in Annex II to the codified Directive.

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(cid:1) 84/647/EEC (adapted)

2003/0221 (COD)

Proposal for a

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular
Article (cid:2) 71 (cid:3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the (cid:2) European (cid:3) Economic and Social Committee1,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions2,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty3,

Whereas:

(1) 

Council  Directive  84/647/EEC  of  19  December  1984  on  the  use  of  vehicles  hired
without drivers for the carriage of goods by road4 has been substantially amended5. In
the interests of clarity and rationality the said Directive should be codified.

(cid:1) 

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OJ C
OJ C
OJ C
OJ  L  335,  22.12.1984,  p.  72.  Directive  as  amended  by  Directive  90/398/EEC  (OJ  L  202,  31.7.1990,
p. 46).
See Annex I, part A.

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(2) 

From  a  macroeconomic  point  of  view,  the  use  of  hired  vehicles  permits,  in  certain
situations, an optimum allocation of resources by limiting the wasteful use of factors
of production.

(cid:1) 84/647/EEC Recital 1

(3) 

From a microeconomic point of view, this possibility brings an element of flexibility
to the organisation of transport, and thus increases the productivity of the undertakings
concerned.

(cid:1) 84/647/EEC Recital 2

(4) 

This  Directive  should  be  without  prejudice  to  the  obligations  of  the  Member  States
concerning the time-limits for transposition into national law of the Directives set out
in Annex I, Part B,

(cid:1) 

(cid:1) 84/647/EEC (adapted)

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

For the purposes of this Directive:

Article 1

(cid:2) (a) (cid:3) “vehicle” means a motor vehicle, a trailer, a semi-trailer, or a combination of

vehicles intended exclusively for the carriage of goods;

(cid:2) (b) (cid:3) “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 undertaking which makes the vehicles available.

Article 2

(cid:2) 1. (cid:3) 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 another Member State provided that:

(cid:2) (a) (cid:3) the vehicle is registered or put into circulation in compliance with  the

laws in the latter Member State;

(cid:2) (b) (cid:3) 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;

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(cid:2) (c) (cid:3) the  hired  vehicle  is  at  the  sole  disposal  of  the  undertaking  using  it

during the period of the hire contract;

(cid:2) (d) (cid:3) the hired vehicle is driven by personnel of the undertaking using it.

(cid:2) 2. (cid:3) Proof of compliance with the conditions (cid:2) referred to in paragraph 1(a) to (d)
shall  be (cid:3)  be  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

Member  States  shall  take  the  necessary  measures  to  ensure  that  their  undertakings
may  use,  for  the  carriage  of  goods  by  road,  under  the  same  conditions  as  vehicles
owned by them, hired vehicles registered or put into circulation in compliance with
the  laws  in  (cid:2) the  Member  State  concerned (cid:3)  ,  provided  that  (cid:2) the  conditions
laid down in Article 2 are satisfied (cid:3) .

Member  States  may  exclude  from  the  provisions  of  paragraph  1  own-account
transport operations carried out by vehicles with a total permissible laden weight of
more than 6 tonnes.

(cid:1) 90/398/EEC Art. 1 point 1

1.

2.

(cid:1) 84/647/EEC (adapted)

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 Articles 2 and 3.

Without  prejudice  to  Articles  2  and  3,  this  Directive  shall  not  affect  the  application  of  the
rules concerning:

Article 5

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(cid:2) (a) (cid:3) the  organisation  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 quota restrictions
on road capacities;

(cid:2) (b) (cid:3) prices and conditions for the carriage of goods by road;

(cid:2) (c) (cid:3) the formation of hire prices;

(cid:2) (d) (cid:3) the import of vehicles;

(cid:2) (e) (cid:3) the  conditions  governing  access  to  the  activity  or  occupation  of  road-vehicle

lessor.

(cid:1) 

Article 6

Directive 84/647/EEC, as amended by the  Directive set out in Annex  I,  Part  A, is repealed,
without  prejudice  to  the  obligations  of  the  Member  States  relating  to  the  time-limits  for
transposition into national law of the Directives set out in Annex I, Part B.

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

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

Article 7

(cid:1) 84/647/EEC Article 9 (adapted)

Article (cid:1) 8 (cid:2)

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, […]

For the European Parliament
The President
[…]

For the Council
The President
[…]

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(cid:4)

ANNEX I

Part A

Repealed Directive with its amendment
(referred to in Article 6)

Council Directive 84/647/EEC

(OJ L 335, 22.12.1984, p. 72)

Council Directive 90/398/EEC

(OJ L 202, 31.7.1990, p. 46)

Part B

List of time-limits for transposition into national law
(referred to in Article 6)

Directive

Time-limit for transposition

Directive 84/647/EEC

Directive 90/398/EEC

30 June 1986

31 December 1990

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ANNEX II

CORRELATION TABLE

Directive 84/647/EEC

This Directive

Article 1, introductory sentence

Article 1, introductory sentence

Article 1, first indent

Article 1, second indent

Article 1(a)

Article 1(b)

Article 2, introductory sentence

Article 2(1), introductory sentence

Article 2, points 1 - 4

Article 2(1)(a) - (d)

Article  2,  point  5, 
introductory sentence

first 

subparagraph,

Article 
introductory sentence

2(2), 

first 

subparagraph,

Article  2,  point  5,  first  subparagraph,  points  (a)
and (b)

Article  2(2),  first  subparagraph,  points  (a)
and (b)

Article 2, point 5, second subparagraph

Article 2(2), second subparagaph

Article 3

Article 4(1)

Article 3

Article 4

Article 5, introductory sentence

Article 5, introductory sentence

Article 5, first indent

Article 5, second indent

Article 5, third indent

Article 5, fourth indent

Article 5, fifth indent

Article 6

Article 7

Article 8

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_____

Article 5(a)

Article 5(b)

Article 5(c)

Article 5(d)

Article 5(e)

______

______

______

Article 6

Article 7

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Article 9

_____

_____

Article 8

Annex I

Annex II

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