Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the application by the Member States of Council Directive 95/50/EC on uniform procedures for checks on the transport of dangerous goods by road
Date: 2007-12-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: approximation of laws, report, road transport, safety standard, transport of dangerous goods, transport safety

EN 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 13.12.2007  
COM(2007) 795 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
AND THE COUNCIL 

ON THE APPLICATION BY THE MEMBER STATES OF COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 
95/50/EC ON UNIFORM PROCEDURES FOR CHECKS ON THE TRANSPORT OF 
DANGEROUS GOODS BY ROAD 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 3 

BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 3 

DIRECTIVE 95/50/EC ................................................................................................ 4 

REPORTS FROM THE MEMBER STATES ............................................................. 4 

CALCULATION OF DATA ....................................................................................... 5 

FREQUENCY OF CHECKS IN THE MEMBER STATES....................................... 5 

THE PROPORTION OF TRANSPORT OPERATIONS INFRINGING THE 
LEGISLATION ........................................................................................................... 6 

PENALTIES ................................................................................................................ 6 

CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................................... 7 

ANNEX 1: TIME SERIES (1997 – 2005) OF THE NUMBER OF CHECKS 
INFINGEMENTS AND PENALTIES REGISTERED IN EACH MEMBER STATE ............ 8 

ANNEX II: NUMBER OF CHECKS PER NUMBER OF JOURNEYS MADE BY 
VEHICLES TRANSPORTING DANGEROUS GOODS (%) 2003-2005 (NEW MEMBER 
STATES 2004-2005)................................................................................................................ 10 

ANNEX III: NUMBER OF CHECKS AND PROPORTION OF FOREIGN VEHICLES 
(2003–2005) ............................................................................................................................. 11 

ANNEV IV: NUMBER OF INFRINGEMENTS PER CHECK 2003-2005........................... 12 

ANNEX V: PENALTIES BY TYPE 2003-2005..................................................................... 13 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Council Directive 95/50/EC on uniform procedures for checks on the transport of dangerous 
goods by road was adopted on 6 October 19951 and Member States had to bring into force the 
laws,  regulations  and  administrative  provisions  necessary  to  comply  with  it  by  1  January 
1997. 

Directive  95/50/EC  provides  that  each  Member  State  has  to  send  the  Commission  for  each 
calendar year not later than twelve months after the end of that year a report on the application 
of this Directive2. The Directive also provides that the Commission has to send the European 
Parliament  and  the  Council  at  least  every  three  years  a  report  on  the  application  of  the 
Directive by the Member States3.  

The  report  from  the  Commission  is  based  on  the  annual  reports  received  from  the  Member 
States.  This  is  the  third  report  on  the  application  of  Council  Directive  95/50/EC  in  the 
Member States and it covers years 2003-2005. The first report4 covered years 1997-1998 and 
the  second  report5  years  1999-2002.  Due  to  the  enlargement  of  the  EU  on  1  May  2004  ten 
new Member States appear in this report. New Member States were only obliged to provide 
data for the years 2004 and 2005. 

2. 

BACKGROUND 

Council  Directive  94/55/EC  of  21  November  1994  on  the  approximation  of  the  laws  of  the 
Member  States  with  regard  to  the  transport  of  dangerous  goods  by  road6,  as  amended7, 
introduced harmonised rules for the transportation of dangerous goods between the Member 
States as well as nationally within the Member States. 

The technical annexes to Directive 94/55/EC are identical in terms of content to the technical 
annexes to the international ADR-agreement8. Therefore, Directive 94/55/EC transposes into 
Community law the technical provisions of the ADR, which lays down uniform rules for the 
safe international transport of dangerous goods by road. The added value of the Directive is 
that  it  also  extends  these  rules  to  cover  national  traffic  in  order  to  harmonise  across  the 
Community the conditions under which dangerous goods are transported by road and thereby 
to improve, at the same time, road safety at national level. 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 

8 

OJ No L 249, 17.10.1995, p. 35, as last amended by Commission Directive 2004/112/EC of 13 
December 2004 adapting to technical progress Council Directive 95/50/EC (OJ No L 367, 14.12.2004, 
p. 23)  
Article 9(1) thereof 
Article 9(2) thereof 
COM(2000) 517 final, 06.09.2000 
COM(2005) 430 final, 15.09.2005 
OJ No L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 7 
Directive last amended by Commission Directive 2004/111/EC of 9 December 2004 adapting to 
technical progress Council Directive 94/55/EC (OJ No L 365, 10.12.2004, p. 25) 
European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road concluded at 
Geneva on 30 September 1957, as amended, the latest version being the 2005 version. 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
                                                 
Annex  A  to  Directive  94/55/EC  lists  the  dangerous  goods  that  may  be  carried  by  road  and 
gives  rules  for  packaging,  labelling  and  for  describing  goods  in  the  transport  documents. 
Annex B sets out the rules governing the vehicles and transport operations. 

3. 

DIRECTIVE 95/50/EC 

In the context of Directive 94/55/EC, and in order to further improve the level of safety in the 
transport of dangerous goods and to ensure that a sufficient level of checks is carried out in a 
harmonised  way,  the  Council  adopted  on  6  October  1995  Directive  95/50/EC  on  uniform 
procedures for checks on the transport of dangerous goods by road. This Directive includes a 
harmonised  checklist  used  by  Member  States  as  well  as  a  harmonised  list  of  infringement 
codes until 2004. In 2004 the Annexes to the Directive were amended9 and the infringement 
codes were changed to three risk categories as from 2005.  

These  uniform  checks  concern  all  road  transport  operations  of  dangerous  goods  in  the 
territory of a Member State or entering it from third countries, irrespective of the country of 
registration of the vehicle. The Directive aims at ensuring that a representative proportion of 
consignments of dangerous goods transported by road is randomly checked, while at the same 
time covering an extensive portion of the road network. 

As  a  preventive  measure,  or  after  having  recorded  infringements  at  the  roadside  which 
jeopardise safety, checks may be also carried out at the premises of undertakings. 

4. 

REPORTS FROM THE MEMBER STATES 

Reports  were  received  from  all  Member  States,  which  are  obliged  to  send  reports  for  the 
entire period of 2003-2005. Reports from new Member States, which are only obliged to send 
reports  for  the  period  beginning  in  2004,  were  either  the  entirety  or  part  of  the  period.  One 
Member State did not send any data. 

Member States which submitted reports for 
all years in the period 2003-2005 

Member States which submitted reports for 
part of the period 2003-2005 
(as from 2004 compulsory) 

Member States which did not submit any 
report for the period 2003-2005 

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, 
Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, 
Italy, Luxemburg , the Netherlands, 
Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia, the United 
Kingdom 
Czech Republic (2004-05), Estonia (2004-
2005), Hungary (2004-05), Lithuania (2004-
05), Latvia (2004-05), Malta (2005), Poland 
(2005), Slovakia (2005) 
Cyprus 

When  making  their  reports,  the  Member  States  were  invited  to  use  the  harmonised 
infringement codes in Annex II to the Directive  until 2004, the new risk categories in 2005 
and to present the report in accordance with Annex III of the Directive, which was modified 
in  2005.  Not  all  Member  States  followed  this  pattern.  Some  Member  States  used  the  codes 

9 

Commission Directive 2004/112/EC of 13 December 2004 adapting to technical progress Council 
Directive 95/50/EC (OJ No L 367, 14.12.2004, p. 23)  

EN 

4 

   EN 

 
                                                 
from  the  checklist  (Annex  I  to  the  Directive),  some  had  their  own  system  of  grouping  the 
infringements, as had also been the case in the previous reports. In 2005 many Member States 
still used their old practises, but some used already the new risk categories. It was therefore 
not possible to create a coherent overview of the type of infringements. This would have led 
to an even higher share of the class "other infringements", which already accounted for 57,78 
% of the total in the last report.  

The summary of the reports is given in Annex I to this report. Annex I contains time series of 
the number of checks, infringements and penalties registered in each Member State from 1997 
to 2005.  

5. 

CALCULATION OF DATA 

Member  States  were  invited  to  give  their  estimate  of  the  amount  of  transportation  of 
dangerous goods in tonnes or in tonnes-kilometres in their report. Not many Member States 
provided  this  information.  Therefore  old  practises  of  previous  reports  were  followed:  a 
proportion  of  6  %  of  all  goods  transported  as  a  constant  average  value  for  estimating  the 
amount  of  transported  dangerous  goods10,  an  average  journey  of  110  kilometres  and  an 
average load of dangerous goods of 10 tonnes were used in the calculations. 

On the basis of these data the number of journeys made by vehicles transporting dangerous 
goods was calculated. This figure was correlated with the number of checks in the country to 
obtain information about the frequency of checks as a percentage of the number of checks per 
number of journeys. To provide a balanced basis for the different Member States, all the trips 
were calculated on the basis of Eurostat statistical data. 

6. 

FREQUENCY OF CHECKS IN THE MEMBER STATES 

One of the aims of the Directive is to further improve the level of safety by ensuring that a 
sufficient level of checks is carried out. The frequency of road checks in the Member States in 
the period 2003-2005 is in the chart of Annex II. 

On the basis of this chart and the results from former reports it can be concluded that: 

1) The frequency of checks in the European Union as a whole decreased from 0.27 % (1997-
1998) to 0.23 % (1999-2002) and, with most of the new Member States included since 2004, 
increased to 0.29 % (2003-2005). 

2)  In  the  Czech  Republic,  Germany,  Hungary  and  Slovenia  the  frequency  of  checks  in  the 
period 2003-2005 is above 0.60 %, in Austria, Spain, France, Poland and Sweden it is around 
0.25 %, in Belgium, Finland and Malta slightly over 0.10 % and in the other countries 0.06 % 
or even less. However, it should be noted that in some Member States a significant proportion 
of  the  available  enforcement  capacity  is  used  to  carry  out  checks  at  the  premises.  These 
checks are also based on Article 6 of Directive 95/50/EC, but do not appear in the data. 

10 

The data concerning all goods transported come from the statistical pocketbook 2006 EU Energy and 
Transport in Figures", issued by Eurostat. Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European 
Communities, 2007. Table 3.2.4c 

EN 

5 

   EN 

 
                                                 
3) In the countries where the level of checks is highest, it is above 30 times higher than in the 
countries  where  the  level  is  lowest.  Hungary's  data  is  markedly  in  excess  of  other  Member 
States' data. 

It should be noted that the Member State, which did not submit a report is fully excluded from 
all data. 

In  order  to  assess  the  equivalence  of  checks  between  domestic  and  foreign  operators,  the 
checks performed by each Member State and the proportion of foreign vehicles checked are 
presented  in  Annex  III.  This  proportion  does,  indeed,  vary  considerably.  However,  as  the 
largest proportion of foreign vehicles checked are in the transit countries, the proportions still 
seem  reasonable  taking  into  account  geographical  positions.  Therefore  it  may  be  concluded 
that there is no indication that the checks are not balanced in this respect. 

7. 

THE  PROPORTION  OF  TRANSPORT  OPERATIONS  INFRINGING  THE 
LEGISLATION 

The proportion of transport operations infringing the legislation was calculated by relating all 
infringements  (whether  concerning  the  vehicle,  the  driver,  the  documentation  or  the 
transported  goods)  to  the  checked  vehicle.  As  there  may  have  been  more  than  one 
infringement per  vehicle,  this may give an artificially high figure. This has to be taken into 
account when assessing the figures. The information on the proportion of infringements per 
check in the period 2003-2005 has been put into a chart in Annex IV. 

When comparing the values with the results from the previous report it can be concluded that: 

1)  the  ratio  of  the  number  of  infringements  per  check  in  the  European  Union  as  a  whole 
increased  from  0.22  (1997-1998)  to  0.26  (1999-2002)  and  then  decreased  to  0.18  (2003-
2005); 

2) depending on the country, the ratio of the number of infringements per check in the period 
1999-2002 ranged from 0.02 to nearly 2.00; 

3) in Austria, Estonia, Ireland, Malta, and Portugal, the ratio of the number of infringements 
per check in the period 2003-2005 is significantly higher than the EU average (0.26). In most 
countries the ratio is between 0.10 – 0.50. 

The figures demonstrate that the road checks are necessary and constitute an important tool 
for  improving  safety  in  the  transport  of  dangerous  goods,  although  when  comparing  the 
frequency  of  checks  (Annex  II)  with  the  proportion  of  infringements  (Annex  IV),  the 
correlation is not straightforward.  

8. 

PENALTIES  

The  information  about  penalties  was  in  many  cases  incomplete.  An  overview  of  types  of 
penalties in the Member States, which provided information, is in provided in Annex V. The 
most  common  penalty  was  a  fine  (about  80%)  followed  by  a  warning  (about  20%)  while 
prosecutions were applied very seldom. 

EN 

6 

   EN 

 
9. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Although  most  of  the  Member  States  performed  roadside  checks  on  the  transport  of 
dangerous goods in the period 2003-2005, the frequency of checks varies considerably. The 
average frequency of checks in the European Union, taking into account the enlargement of 
2004, has increased in the past few years. 

Justification for checks is clearly seen in the proportion of vehicles found during checks to be 
infringing the legislation, although the average ratio of the number of infringements per check 
in the European Union has slightly decreased.  

On the basis of this report the Commission stresses that road checks are an effective tool in 
revealing the problems connected with the safety of the transport of dangerous goods and in 
improving it. However, checks conducted in premises by some Member States are obviously 
an  equally  effective  way  of  enforcement,  although  this  is  not  apparent  from  the  annexes  to 
this report.  

Finally,  the  Commission  would  like  to  point  out  to  the  Member  States  that  the  harmonised 
reporting  forms  should  be  used  and  the  reports  should  be  sent  to  the  Commission  by  all 
Member  States. The  introduction  and application of the new  infringement  risk categories in 
all Member States will provide better reports in the future.  

EN 

7 

   EN 

 
DK

CY

EE

BE

AT

DE

CZ

1271
1187

94
47
40
0
0
0
0
0
0

251
70
73
0
0
0
0
0
0

274
67
67
0
0
0
0
0
0

275
80
66
0
0
0
0
0
0

242
28
28
0
0
0
0
0
0

5331
5122
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

1997
5698
3834
2317
1163
1331
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

2001
5940
6923
3825
2762
2582
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

2000
1999
1998
6062
7666
6720
6043 11913 10542
7514
5630
3094
2414
2544
1624
2450
2243
1548
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

ANNEX 1: TIME SERIES (1997 – 2005) OF THE NUMBER OF CHECKS 
INFINGEMENTS AND PENALTIES REGISTERED IN EACH MEMBER STATE 
COUNTRY
2005 ‘97-'99 ‘00-'02 ‘03-'05
2004
2003
2002
5273 18480 20277 16524
6671
5420
5831
Checks
21790 25736 28626
n.a
8271 13973 14653
Infring.
3041 11041 13986 11050
5362
2647
2647
Penalties
7770 10171
3835
3417
2919
2594
Checks
4148
7370
1536
1445
1167
2338
Infring.
2648
0
1306
1342
0
0
Penalties
0
0
0
0
0
0
Checks
0
0
0
0
0
0
Infring.
0
0
0
0
0
0
Penalties
0 29130
0 11334 17796
0
Checks
2886
0
1615
0
0
Infring.
2042
0
855
0
0
Penalties
126533 129758 131161 115786 98005 93247 106653 103975 88915 387452 307038 299543
Checks
21849 24020 24351 21467 18279 19929 21556 20617 16418 70220 59675 58591
Infring.
Penalties 19408 17701 19014 14144 14773 14903 19660 20594 16418 56123 43820 56672
1640
Checks
687
Infring.
368
Penalties
141
Checks
141
Infring.
141
Penalties
1413
Checks
127
Infring.
209
Penalties
23900 28037 32849 38759 40013 34423 36782 30453 32591 84786 113195 99826
Checks
3759 10522 16975 14085
Infring.
3759
3759
Penalties
7331
2401
Checks
2687
924
Infring.
3463
1002
Penalties
0 74414
Checks
7398
0
Infring.
0
1268
Penalties
0 116155
Checks
1754
0
Infring.
1581
0
Penalties
1546
435
Checks
1512
269
Infring.
1483
203
Penalties
9895
7501
Checks
3149
890
Infring.
0
890
Penalties
447
0
Checks
167
0
Infring.
170
0
Penalties
603
1133
Checks
296
99
Infring.
466
0
Penalties

0
4762
2427
2737
0 22951 28122 23341 19561
1919
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
435
0
269
0
203
4186
2528
773
247
773
247
0
0
0
0
0
0
692
228
108
18
16
0

2303
n.a.
0 74546 41609
935
0
717
0
815
356
684
399
718
370
3963
2797
1353
760
0
0
258
0
93
0
96
0
190
313
114
122
183
192

3205
0
1602
573
776
19561
1919
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
203
52
12

5569
0
1849
763
761
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2459
347
347
0
0
0
451
44
0

6319
0
1690
637
615
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2514
296
296
0
0
0
454
37
0

4342
0
1437
745
623
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2389
333
333
0
0
0
203
4
0

2975
0
1723
1109
1338
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1797
440
440
0
0
0
286
52
4

819
864
375
429
395
3135
1036
0
189
74
74
100
60
91

708
410
232
67
67
67
1106
81
136

539
100
93
0
0
0
0
0
0

621
197
104
74
74
74
211
21
44

800
217
206
0
0
0
0
0
0

203
25
25
0
0
0
0
0
0

311
80
32
0
0
0
96
25
29

4706
0
2536
1057
1259

5620
0
2394
706
1202

5087
0
1739
666
496

0
5278
2066
1872

2770
783

2325
485

LU

FR

LT

EL

ES

IT

IE

FI

HU

EN 

8 

   EN 

 
 
MT

NL

LV

PL

COUNTRY
Checks
Infring.
Penalties
Checks
Infring.
Penalties
Checks
Infring.
Penalties
Checks
Infring.
Penalties
Checks
Infring.
Penalties
Checks
Infring.
Penalties
Checks
Infring.
Penalties
Checks
Infring.
Penalties
Checks
Infring.
Penalties

SI

SE

PT

SK

UK

1997
0
0
0
0
0
0
3521
1586
1419
0
0
0
0
0
0
8125
4509
2140
0
0
0
0
0
0
6011
1817
237

1998
0
0
0
0
0
0
2266
656
481
0
0
0
0
0
0
7839
4041
2152
0
0
0
0
0
0
9016
1308
131

1999
0
0
0
0
0
0
2416
1275
931
0
0
0
0
0
0
6669
3096
1758
0
0
0
0
0
0
7928
1041
93

2000
0
0
0
0
0
0
3145
4889
1158
0
0
0
135
43
0
7263
2929
1833
0
0
0
0
0
0
7087
660
11

2001
0
0
0
0
0
0
1429
2149
711
0
0
0
150
116
0
6283
3447
1435
0
0
0
0
0
0
6616
972
261

2002
0
0
0
0
0
0
4510
3287
1209
0
0
0
78
60
0
5995
3087
1186
0
0
0
0
0
0
4985
806
234

2003
0
0
0
0
0
0
2362
946
946
0
0
0
67
34
0
6333
2275
1462
4178
736
295
0
0
0
6124
810
488

2004
403
231
149
0
0
0
2138
1047
842

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8203
9084
3517 10325
3078
2831
0
0
0
0
0
0

2005 ‘97-'99 ‘00-'02 ‘03-'05
820
310
228
36
34
34
6449
2891
2686
0 13505
2323
0
2210
0
430
363
268
219
0
0
6375 22633 19541 17817
6551
2138 11646
4574
6050
1917
9585
0
2179
1681
0
359
840
0
277
83
0
83
5
0
5
0
0
0
5762 22955 18688 16749
2471
1261

417
79
79
36
34
34
1949
898
898
0 13505
2323
0
2210
0
171
192
116
118
0
0
5109
2138
1195
3228
586
268
0
0
0
4863
745
277

9463
4454
0
0
0
0
0
0

4166
461

2438
506

916
496

: Not EU Member State yet / No Data Provision Required

EN 

9 

   EN 

 
 
ANNEX II: NUMBER OF CHECKS PER NUMBER OF JOURNEYS MADE BY VEHICLES TRANSPORTING DANGEROUS GOODS 
(%) 2003-2005 (NEW MEMBER STATES 2004-2005) 

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

6
2
0

,

3
1
0

,

0
0
0

,

0
6
0

,

1
6
0

,

4
0
0

,

2
0
0

,

3
8
,
4

2003-2005
2004-2005
2005

4
1
0

,

2
2
0

,

4
0
0

,

3
0
0

,

3
0
0

,

3
0
0

,

0
1
0

,

3
1
0

,

5
0
0

,

1
3
0

,

2
2
0

,

1
0
0

,

0
7
0

,

1
0
0

,

9
2
6 0
0
0

,

,

9
2
4 0
0
0

,

,

AT BE CY CZ DE DK EE EL ES FI

FR HU IE

IT

LT LU LV MT NL PL PT SE SI SK UK EU

EN 

10 

EN 

 
  
 
ANNEX III: NUMBER OF CHECKS AND PROPORTION OF FOREIGN VEHICLES 
(2003–2005) 

Country

Country 
of check

Other 
EU

Non-
EU

Not 
known

Total 
Number

AT

BE

CY

CZ

DE

DK

EE

EL

ES

FI

FR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL

PL

PT

SE

SI

SK

UK

EU

8517

4874

3133

7159

2768

0

0

67

0

21066

6804

1260

0

0

0

0

16524

9994

0

29130

198720

72098 28725

0 299543

1314

293

147

1362

4

73

33

0

67

87741

10311

1174

6109

325

897

58343

14540

1531

0

0

0

0

0

0

1640

151

1502

99226

7331

74414

72110

11292 32753

0 116155

731

8844

325

151

574

36

36

547

110

422

215

0

4055

1320

10601

2054

379

51

0

504

12

29

22

0

311

850

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

767

9895

447

602

811

36

5686

13505

430

15546

2083

576

500

18705

4697

2682

2206

77

6

19632

1005

0

38

0

0

9

9585

83

20684

528236 133913 74188

509 736846

% OF CHECKS ON 
FOREIGN VEHICLES
48,46

28,37

/

27,68

33,66

19,88

2,65

9,32

11,57

16,67

21,60

37,92

4,69

10,62

27,29

74,92

29,22

0,00

28,68

21,50

11,86

14,22

51,00

7,23

5,04

28,24

EN 

11 

   EN 

 
 
ANNEV IV: NUMBER OF INFRINGEMENTS PER CHECK 2003-2005 

2003-2005
2004-2005
2005

1,97

1,00

0,94

1,73

2,50

2,00

1,50

1,00

0,50

0,42

0,42

0,37

0,49

0,37

0,38

0,45

0,62

0,20

0,10

0,00

0,08 0,11

0,10

0,02

0,16

0,17

0,25

0,18

0,18

0,12

0,06

AT BE CY CZ DE DK EE

EL ES

FI

FR HU IE

IT

LT

LU LV MT NL

PL

PT SE

SI

SK UK EU

12 

EN 

0,00

EN 

 
  
 
ANNEX V: PENALTIES BY TYPE 2003-2005 

1 Warning
2 Fine
3 Prosecution
4 Not Known

90,00%

80,00%

70,00%

60,00%

50,00%

40,00%

30,00%

20,00%

10,00%

0,00%

1

2

3

4

EN 

13 

EN