Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport (codified version)
Date: 2006-08-01
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: codification of EU law, customs inspection, customs regulations, inland waterway transport, internal border of the EU, road transport

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 1.8.2006 
COM(2006)432 final 

2006/0146(COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of 
road and inland waterway transport 

(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  interinstitutional  agreement  dated  20  December  1994,  that  an  accelerated 
procedure may be used for the fast-track adoption of codification instruments. 

The  purpose  of  this  proposal  is  to  undertake  a  codification  of  Council  Regulation 
(EEC) No 4060/89 of 21 December 1989 on the elimination of controls performed at 
the  frontiers  of  Member  States  in  the  field  of  road  and  inland  waterway  transport3. 
The  new  Regulation  will  supersede  the  acts  incorporated  in  it4;  this  proposal  fully 
preserves  the  content  of  the  acts  being  codified  and  hence  does  no  more  than 
bringing  them  together  with  only  such  formal  amendments  as  are  required  by  the 
codification exercise itself. 

The codification proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation, 
in  all  official  languages,  of  Regulation  (EEC)  No  4060/89  and  the  instrument 
amending  it,  carried  out  by  the  Office  for  Official  Publications  of  the  European 

COM(87) 868 PV 
See Annex 3 to Part A of such 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. 
Annex II of this proposal. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

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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 III to the codified Regulation. 

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(cid:208) 4060/89 (adapted) 

2006/0146(COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of 
road and inland waterway transport 

(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 ⌦ 71 ⌫ thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee5, 

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions6, 

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty7,  

Whereas: 

(1) 

Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  4060/89  of  21  December  1989  on  the  elimination  of 
controls  performed  at  the  frontiers  of  Member  States  in  the  field  of  road  and  inland 
waterway  transport8,  has  been  substantially  amended9.  In  the  interests  of  clarity  and 
rationality the said Regulation should be codified. 

(cid:208)  

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6 
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9 

OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ  L  390,  30.12.1989,  p.  18.  Regulation  as  amended  by  Regulation  (EEC)  No  3356/91  (OJ  L  318, 
20.11.1991, p. 1). 
See Annex II. 

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(2) 

(3) 

(cid:208) 4060/89 Recital 1 

Achieving freedom to provide services in the field of transport is an important element 
of the common transport policy under the Treaty. Consequently, it is the aim of that 
policy to increase the fluidity of movement of the different means of transport within 
the Community. 

(cid:208) 4060/89 Recital 4 

Pursuant to existing Community and national legislation in the field of road and inland 
waterway  transport,  Member  States  perform  checks,  verifications  and  inspections 
relating  to  technical  characteristics,  authorisations  and  other  documentation  that 
vehicles  and  inland  waterway  vessels  must  comply  with.  These  checks,  verifications 
and inspections continue in general to be justified in order to avoid disturbances to the 
organisation of the transport market and to ensure road and inland waterway safety. 

(4) 

Under  existing  Community  legislation,  Member  States  are  free  to  organise  and 
perform the aforementioned checks, verifications and inspections where they so wish. 

(cid:208) 4060/89 Recital 5 (adapted) 

(5) 

Such  controls,  verifications  and  inspections  may  be  performed  with  equal  efficacy 
throughout  the  territory  of  the  Member  States  concerned  and  crossing  the  frontier 
should not therefore be a pretext for carrying out such operations, 

(cid:208) 4060/89 Recital 6 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

(cid:208) 4060/89 

Article 1 

This Regulation applies to controls performed by Member States pursuant to Community or 
national  law  in  the  fields  of  road  and  inland  waterway  transport  carried  out  using  means  of 
transport registered or put into circulation in a Member State. 

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(cid:208) 4060/89 (adapted) 

Article 2 

For the purpose of this Regulation: 

(a) 

(b) 

“frontier”  means  either  an  internal  frontier  within  the  Community  or  an  external 
frontier, where carriage between Member States involves crossing a third country; 

“control”  means  any  check,  inspection,  verification  or  formality  performed  by  the 
national authorities ⌦ of Member States ⌫ , which signifies a stop or a restriction 
on the free movement of the vehicles or vessels concerned. 

Article 3 

The controls referred to in Annex ⌦ I ⌫, and performed pursuant to Community or national 
law  in  the  fields  of  road  and  inland  waterway  transport  between  Member  States  shall 
⌦ not ⌫  be  performed  as  frontier  controls  but  solely  as  part  of  the  normal  control 
procedures  applied  in  a  non-discriminatory  fashion  throughout  the  territory  of  a  Member 
State. 

(cid:208) 3356/91 Art. 1 pt. 1 (adapted) 

Article ⌦ 4 ⌫ 

As and when necessary, the Commission shall propose amendments to Annex ⌦ I ⌫ to take 
account of technological developments in the field covered by this Regulation. 

(cid:208)  

Article 5 

Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 is repealed. 

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

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(cid:208) 4060/89 Art. 4 (adapted) 

Article 6 

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

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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(cid:208) 4060/89 (adapted) 

ANNEX I 

PART 1 

COMMUNITY LAW 

⌦ Section 1 ⌫ 

Directives 

(a)  ⌦ Article  6(4)  of  [Council  Directive  96/53/EC  of  25  July  1996  laying  down  for 
certain  road  vehicles  circulating  within  the  Community  the  maximum  authorised 
dimensions in national and international traffic and the maximum authorised weights 
in  international  traffic10],  which  provides  that  vehicles  may  be  subject,  as  regards 
common standards on weights, to random checks and, as regards common standards 
on dimensions, only to checks where there is a suspicion of non-compliance with its 
provisions; ⌫ 

(b)  ⌦ Article  3(2)  of  [Council  Directive  96/96/EC  of  20  December  1996  on  the 
approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to roadworthiness tests for 
motor  vehicles  and  their  trailers11],  which  provides  that  each  Member  State  shall 
recognise  the  proof  issued  in  another  Member  State  showing  that  a  vehicle  has 
passed  a  roadworthiness  test;  this  act  of  recognition  implies  that  a  verification  by 
national authorities may be made anywhere within their territories; ⌫ 

(c) 

Article  2  ⌦(2)  of  Directive  2006/1/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  18  January  2006  on  the  use  of  vehicles  hired  without  drivers  for  the 
carriage of goods by road12⌫, which lays down that proof of compliance with the 
Directive is provided by a number of documents which must be on board the hired 
vehicle, viz., the contract of hire and the driver's employment contract; 

⌦ (d) ⌫ 

Article 3(3), (4) and (5) of [Council Directive 76/135/EEC of 20 January 1976 
on  reciprocal  recognition  of  navigability  licences,  for  inland  waterway  vessels13], 
which  provides  that  the  navigability  licence,  certificates  or  authorisations  must  be 
produced on demand by national authorities; 

⌦ (e) ⌫ 

Article  17(1)  of  [Council  Directive  82/714/EEC  of  4  October  1982  laying 
down  technical  requirements  for  inland  waterway  vessels14],  which  provides  that 
Member  States  may  at  any  time  check  that  a  vessel  is  carrying  a  certificate  valid 
under the terms of the Directive. 

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13 
14 

[OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 59.] 
[OJ L 46, 17.2.1997, p. 1.] 
OJ L 33, 4.2.2006, p. 82. 
[OJ L 21, 29.1.1976, p. 10.] 
[OJ L 301, 28.10.1982, p. 1.] 

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⌦ Section 2 ⌫ 

Regulations 

(a)  ⌦ Articles 14 and 15 of [Council Regulation (EEC) No 684/92 of 16 March 1992 on 
common rules for the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus15], which 
entitle  any  authorised  inspection  officer  to  verify  and  control  the  transport  ticket, 
authorisation or control document provided for in the Regulation; ⌫ 

⌦ (b) ⌫  ⌦ Article  18  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  561/2006  of  the  European  Parliament 
and  of  the  Council  of  15  March  2006  on  the  harmonisation  of  certain  social 
legislation  relating  to  road  transport  and  amending  Council  Regulations  (EEC)  No 
3821/85  and  (EC)  No  2135/98  and  repealing  Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No 
3820/8516 ⌫,  which  entitles  Member  States  to  adopt  measures  which  cover,  inter 
alia, the organisation of, procedure for and means of a control system to ensure that 
the provisions of the Regulation have been complied with; 

⌦ (c) ⌫ 

Article 19 of [Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 of 20 December 1985 on 
recording  equipment  in  road  transport17]  which  entitles  Member  States  to  adopt 
measures  which  cover,  inter  alia,  the  organisation  of,  procedure  for,  and  means  of 
carrying out, checks on whether the equipment complies with the provisions of the 
Regulation; 

⌦ (d)  Article 5(4) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 881/92 of 26 March 1992 on access to 
the  market  in  the  carriage  of  goods  by  road  within  the  Community  to  or  from  the 
territory  of  a  Member  State  or  passing  across  the territory  of one  or  more  Member 
States18,  which  provides  that  a  certified  true  copy  of  the  Community  authorisation 
shall  be  kept  in  the  vehicle  and  must  be  produced  whenever  required  by  an 
authorised inspecting officer. ⌫ 

(cid:208) 3356/91 Art. 1 pt. 2 

PART 2 

NATIONAL LAW 

(a) 

Controls on the driving licences of persons driving vehicles for the carriage of goods 
and persons 

(b) 

Controls relating to the means of transport for dangerous goods and in particular: 

15 
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18 

[OJ L 74, 20.3.1992, p. 1.] 
OJ L 102, 11.4.2006, p.1. 
[OJ L 370, 31.12.1985, p .8.] 
OJ L 95, 9.4.1992, p. 1. 

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(i)  Documents 

– 

– 

– 

– 

Driver's training certificate 

Safety instructions 

Approval certificate (ADR or equivalent standards) 

Copy of the derogation, if applicable (ADR or equivalent standards) 

(ii) 

Identification of the vehicle carrying the dangerous goods 

– 

Orange panel 

– 

– 

compliance 

placing on the vehicle 

– 

Danger label on the vehicle 

– 

– 

compliance 

placing on the vehicle 

– 

Tank identification plate (for fixed, demountable or container tanks) 

– 

– 

– 

presence and legibility 

date of last inspection 

stamp of inspecting body 

(iii)  Vehicle equipment (ADR or equivalent standards) 

– 

– 

Additional fire extinguisher 

Special equipment 

(iv)  Vehicle loading 

– 

– 

– 

Overload (according to tank capacity) 

Securing of packages 

Prohibition of mixed loading 

(c) 

Controls relating to the means of transport for perishable foodstuffs and in particular: 

(i)  Documents 

– 

Certificate of compliance for the equipment 

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(ii)  Special equipment used for the carriage of perishable foodstuffs 

– 

– 

Compliance plate 

Identification marks 

(iii)  Operation of special equipment 

– 

Temperature conditions. 

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(cid:207)  

ANNEX II 

Repealed Regulation with its amendment 

Council Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 

(OJ L 390, 30.12.1989, p. 18) 

Council Regulation (EEC) No 3356/91 

(OJ L 318, 20.11.1991, p. 1) 

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ANNEX III 

CORRELATION TABLE 

Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 

This Regulation 

Article 1  

Article 2 

Article 3 

Article 3a  

Article 4 

_______ 

Article 1  

Article 2 

Article 3 

Article 4 

Article 6 

Article 5 

Annex Part 1, Directives (a) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 1(a) 

Annex, Part 1, Directives (b) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 1(b) 

Annex, Part 1, Directives (c) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 1(c) 

Annex, Part 1, Directives (d) 

______ 

Annex, Part 1, Directives (e) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 1(d) 

Annex, Part 1, Directives (f) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 1(e) 

Annex, Part 1, Regulations (a) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 2(a) 

Annex, Part 1, Regulations (b) 

Annex, Part 1, Regulations (c) 

______ 

______ 

Annex, Part 1, Regulations (d) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 2(b) 

Annex, Part 1, Regulations (e) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 2(c) 

Annex, Part 1, Regulations (f) 

Annex I, Part 1, Section 2(d) 

Annex, Part 2 

Annex I, Part 2 

______ 

______ 

Annex II 

Annex III 

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