Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on common rules for access to the international road haulage market (recast)
Date: 2009-01-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, exchange of information, international transport, road cabotage, road transport, simplification of legislation, transport licence

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 12.1.2009 
COM(2008) 673 final 

2007/0099 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

common position of the Council on the adoption of a regulation of the European 
Parliament and the Council on common rules for access to the international road 
haulage market (recast) 

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2007/0099 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

common position of the Council on the adoption of a regulation of the European 
Parliament and the Council on common rules for access to the international road 
haulage market (recast) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
(document COM(2007)265 final – 2007/0099COD): 

23 May 2007. 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

12 March 2008. 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

21 May 2008. 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

Date of adoption of the common position: 

13 June 2008. 

9.1.2009 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The  objective  of  the  proposal  adopted  by  the  Commission  on  23  May  2007  is  to  establish 
common  rules  on  the  access  to  the  market  of  international  transport  of  goods  by  road.  The 
proposal replaces two regulations on the access to the market for road hauliers and a directive 
of  the  Council  exempting  certain  transports  from  the  authorisation.  It  aims  among  others  at 
enhancing enforceability of road cabotage by clarifying its definition. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

3.1. General comments on the common position 

The  proposal  on  the  access  to  the  international  road  haulage  market,  and  in  particular  its 
definition of cabotage, is one of the main points of debate in the road package. Notably the 
date  for  the  report  on  a  possible  further  opening  of  the  market,  including  cabotage,  was  a 
central point for reaching a compromise on the package. 

3.2. Detailed Commission comments  

The  common  position  adopted  by  the  Council  integrated  as  such  or  in  principle  a  certain 
number  of  the  amendments  adopted  by  the  European  Parliament,  all  of  which  were  also 

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acceptable as such or in principle for the Commission. These amendments concern: 

–  the definition of the exception for the carriage of mail (amendment 11); 

–  the limitation of details to be contained in the evidence to be produced for the international 

carriage (19); 

–  the  deletion  of  the  reference  to  working  time  as  mandatory  rules  applicable  to  cabotage 

(43); 

–  the  introduction  of  a  safeguard  procedure  in  the  event  of  serious  disturbances  due  to 

cabotage (48); 

–  and  the  deletion  of  the  reference  to  repeated  minor  infringements;  the  Commission  can 
agree  on  this  stepwise  approach  on  the  registers  (7,  8,  42,  24,  27,  31,  33,  part  of 
amendment 34). 

The common position also includes a provision on cabotage in a transit country, which was 
foreseen  by  amendment  17.  As  the  solution  proposed  in  the  common  position  is  an 
enforceable one, the Commission can agree on it. 

The  common  position  did  not  include  the  following  amendments,  which  were  acceptable  in 
principle or with redrafting for the Commission: 

–  a recital on the relation to the directive 92/106/EEC on combined transport (1); 

–  the clearer use of the concept of "temporary" (9, 12); 

–  the imposition of fines as one possibility of a penalty (25, 28); 

–  the  fixation  of  the  date  of  application  on  1  January  2009  (35);  the  common  position 

foresees to apply the regulation 24 months after its entry into force. 

The  remaining  amendments  of  the  European  Parliament  which  were  not  acceptable  or  not 
acceptable  in  the  proposed  wording  for  the  Commission  have  not  been  included  in  the 
common position. These amendments concern in particular: 

–  the further opening of the cabotage market (3, 4, 18); 

–  the authorisation of cabotage after partial unloading (16); 

–  the  authorisation  for  closer  cooperation  on  cabotage  between  certain  Member  States  (5, 

21); 

–  the reference to the posting of workers directive as rules applicable to cabotage (23); 

–  the possibility for Member States to regulate cross trade (6, 14, 15); 

–  the demand for a single document for all kind of road transports (20). 

The common position has notably introduced the following new provisions: 

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–  the possibility to adapt the period of validity of the licence to the technical progress (article 

4 paragraph 2); 

–  the  inclusion  of  security  features  for  the  licence,  the  certified  true  copies  and  the  driver 

attestation (article 4, paragraph 4 and article 5 paragraph 3 as well as Annex I and II); 

–  the  provisions  concerning  the  driver  attestation  (article  5),  notably  the  introduction  of  a 
reference  to  directive  2003/109/EC  concerning  the  status  of  third-country  nationals  who 
are long-term residents; 

–  a report by the Commission by the end of 2013, which should analyze the market situation, 
evaluate  the  effectiveness  of  controls  and  the  evolution  of  the  employment  conditions  in 
the  profession  and  assess  whether  the  harmonisation  of  rules  has  progressed  so  that  a 
further opening of the domestic markets, including cabotage could be envisaged (article 16 
paragraph 3). 

It  can  be  noted  that  the  outcome  on  the  definition  of  cabotage  (article  8)  has  been  seen  by 
some Member States, which preferred a stronger limitation of the authorised cabotage, as the 
maximum  acceptable,  whereas  other  Member  States,  who  aim  at  a  further  opening  of  the 
market, see it as the minimum acceptable. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Council adopted its common position by qualified majority. The Commission considers 
that  the  common  position  reflects  the  main  objectives  of  its  proposal  and  can  therefore 
support it. 

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