Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road
Date: 2010-09-24
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, Eurostat, exchange of information, intra-EU transport, road transport, statistical method

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION  

Brussels, 24.9.2010 
COM(2010) 505 final 

2010/0258 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road 

(Recast) 

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1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

On 1 April 1987 the Commission decided1 to instruct its staff that all 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 their provisions are 
clear and readily understandable. 

The  codification  of  Council  Regulation (EC)  No  1172/98  of  25  May  1998  on 
statistical  returns  in  respect  of  the  carriage  of  goods  by  road2  was  initiated  by  the 
Commission.  The  new  Regulation  was  to  have  superseded  the  various  acts 
incorporated in it3; their content was to have been fully preserved and hence it would 
have done no more than brought them together with only such formal amendments as 
would have been required by the codification exercise itself. 

In the meantime, the Lisbon Treaty came into force. Under Article 290 of the Treaty 
on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  the  legislator  may  delegate  to  the 
Commission  the  power  to  adopt  non-legislative  acts  of  general  application  to 
supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of a legislative act. 

Such  a  delegation  of  power  may  be  suitable  for  certain  provisions  of 
Regulation (EC) No 1172/98. It is therefore appropriate to transform the codification 
of  Regulation (EC)  No  1172/98  into  a  recast  in  order  to  incorporate  the  necessary 
amendments.  

The recast proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation, in all 
official languages, of Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 and the instruments amending it, 
carried  out  by  the  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  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  set  out  in 
Annex IX to the recasted Regulation. 

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2 

3 

COM(87) 868 PV. 
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 VIII to this proposal. 

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(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

2010/0258 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road  

(Recast) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article ⌦ 338(1) ⌫ thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee4, 

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(cid:216) new 

Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of 25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect 
of the carriage of goods by road5 has been substantially amended several times6. Since 
further  amendments  are  to  be  made,  the  said  Regulation  should  be  recast  in  the 
interests of clarity.  

(cid:208) 1172/98 Recital 1 (adapted) 

In order to carry out the tasks entrusted to it in the context of the common transport 
policy, the Commission must have at its disposal comparable, reliable, synchronised, 
regular  and  comprehensive  statistical  data  on  the  scale  and  development  of  the 
carriage of goods by road by means of vehicles registered in the ⌦ Union ⌫ , and on 
the degree of utilisation of vehicles carrying out this transport. 

4 
5 
6 

OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1. 
See Annex VIII. 

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(cid:208) 1172/98 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

It  is  necessary  to  compile  comprehensive  regional  statistics  with  regard  to  both  the 
carriage of goods and vehicle journeys. 

It  is  therefore  appropriate  to  ensure  the  description  of  the  regional  origin  and 
destination of -transport within the Union on the same bases as national transport, and 
to provide a link between the carriage of goods and vehicle journeys by measuring the 
degree of utilisation of vehicles carrying out this transport. 

In  accordance  with  the  principle  of  subsidiarity,  the  creation  of  common  statistical 
standards  allowing  the  production  of  harmonised  information  can  be  tackled 
efficiently  only  at  Union  level,  while  data  will  be  collected  in  each  Member  State 
under  the  authority  of  the  bodies  and  institutions  in  charge  of  compiling  official 
statistics. 

Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of 
11 March  2009  on  European  statistics  and  repealing  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom) 
No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of 
data  subject  to  statistical  confidentiality  to  the  Statistical  Office  of  the  European 
Communities,  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No 322/97  on  Community  Statistics,  and 
Council  Decision  89/382/EEC,  Euratom  establishing  a  Committee  on  the  Statistical 
Programmes  of  the  European  Communities7  provides  a  reference  framework  for  the 
provisions laid down by this Regulation, in particular those concerning access to the 
sources  of  administrative  data,  the  cost-effectiveness  of  available  resources  and 
statistical confidentiality. 

(7) 

Communication of individual data, once rendered anonymous, is necessary in order to 
estimate the overall accuracy of the results. 

(8) 

It is important to ensure that statistical information is adequately disseminated. 

(9)  ⌦ The  measures  necessary  for  the  implementation  of  this  Regulation  should ⌫  be 
adopted  in  accordance  with  Council  Decision  1999/468/EC  of  28  June  1999  laying 
down  the  procedures  for  the  exercise  of  implementing  powers  conferred  on  the 
Commission8. 

(cid:208) 399/2009 Recital 1 (adapted) 

(cid:208) 399/2009 Recital 4 (adapted) 
(cid:214) new 

(10)  Power  should  be  conferred  on  the  Commission  to  (cid:214) adopt  delegated  acts  in 
accordance  with  Article  290  of  the  Treaty  as  regards  the  adoption  of    the  data 
collection  characteristics  and  the  contents  of  the  Annexes  and  to  lay  down  the 
minimum precision requirements for the statistical returns transmitted by the Member 

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8 

OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164. 
OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. 

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States  and  the  implementing  procedures  for  ⌦ this ⌫  Regulation,  including 
measures for adapting it to economic and technical progress of. Since those measures 
are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of Regulation, 
they  must  be  adopted  in  accordance  with  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny 
provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC, 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

Article 1 

Subject-matter and scope 

1. Each Member State shall compile statistics ⌦ for the Union ⌫ on the carriage of goods 
by road by means of goods road transport vehicles which are registered in that Member State, 
and on the journeys made by such vehicles. 

(cid:208) 1172/98 

2. This Regulation shall not apply to the carriage of goods by road by means of: 

(a) 

(b) 

goods  road  transport  vehicles  whose  authorised  weight  or  dimensions  exceed  the 
limits normally permitted in the Member States concerned; 

agricultural  vehicles,  military  vehicles  and  vehicles  belonging  to  central  or  local 
public administrations, with the exception of goods road transport vehicles belonging 
to public undertakings, and in particular railway undertakings. 

Each  Member  State  may  exclude  from  the  scope  of  this  Regulation  goods  road  transport 
vehicles  whose  load  capacity  or  maximum  permissible  laden  weight  is  lower  than  a  certain 
limit. This limit may not exceed a load capacity of 3,5 tonnes or maximum permissible weight 
of 6 tonnes in the case of single motor vehicles. 

Article 2 

Definitions 

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

‘carriage of goods by road’: all transport of goods by means of a goods road transport 
vehicle; 

‘road  transport  vehicle’:  a  road  vehicle  fitted  with  an  engine  whence  it  derives  its 
sole means of propulsion, which is normally used for carrying persons or goods by 
road, or for drawing, on the road, vehicles used for the carriage of persons or goods; 

‘road  vehicle  for  the  transport  of  goods’:  a  road  vehicle  designed  exclusively  or 
primarily to carry goods (lorry, trailer, semi-trailer); 

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(d) 

(e) 

(f) 

(g) 

(h) 

(i) 

(j) 

(k) 

‘goods  road  transport  vehicle’:  any  single  road  transport  vehicle  (lorry),  or 
combination  of  road  vehicles,  namely  road  train  (lorry  with  trailer)  or  articulated 
vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods; 

‘lorry’: a rigid road vehicle designed exclusively or primarily to carry goods; 

‘road tractor’: a road transport vehicle designed exclusively or primarily to haul other 
road vehicles which are not power-driven (mainly semi-trailers); 

‘trailer’:  a  road  vehicle  for  transporting  goods  designed  to  be  hauled  by  a  road 
transport vehicle; 

‘semi-trailer’:  a  road  vehicle  for  transporting  goods  with  no  front  axle  so  designed 
that  part  of  the  vehicle  and  a  substantial  part  of  its  loaded  weight  rest  on  the  road 
tractor; 

‘articulated vehicle’: a road tractor coupled to a semi-trailer; 

‘road train’: a goods road transport vehicle coupled to a trailer. 

This category also includes an articulated vehicle with a further trailer attached; 

‘registered’: the state of having been entered in a register of road transport vehicles, 
kept  by  an  official  body  in  a  Member  State,  whether  or  not  the  registration  is 
accompanied by the issue of a registration plate. 

In the case of carriage by means of a combination of road transport vehicles, namely 
road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), in 
which the goods road vehicle (lorry or road tractor) and the trailer or semi-trailer are 
registered  in  different  countries,  the  complete  vehicle  shall  be  deemed  to  be 
registered in the country where the goods road vehicle is registered; 

(l) 

‘load  capacity’:  maximum  weight  of  goods  declared  permissible  by  the  competent 
authority of the country of registration of the vehicle. 

When the goods road transport vehicle is a train made up of a lorry with trailer, the 
load capacity of the train is the sum of the load capacities of the lorry and the trailer; 

(m) 

‘maximum permissible weight’: total weight of the vehicle (or vehicle combination) 
when  stationary  and  ready  for  the  road  and  of  the  weight  of  the  load  declared 
permissible by the competent authority of the country of registration of the vehicle; 

(n) 

‘Eurostat’:  the  Commission  department  responsible  for  carrying  out  the  tasks 
incumbent on that institution in the field of the production of ⌦ Union ⌫ statistics. 

(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

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(cid:208) 1172/98 

Article 3 

Data collection 

1. Member States shall compile statistical data relating to the following areas: 

(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

vehicle; 

journey; 

goods. 

2. The statistical variables in each area, their definition and the levels within the classification 
used for their breakdown are set out in Annexes ⌦ I to VII ⌫. 

3.  When  determining  the  method  to  be  used  for  compiling  statistical  data,  Member  States 
shall refrain from carrying out any formalities at frontiers between Member States. 

(cid:208) 1172/98 

(cid:208) 399/2009 Art. 1(1) 
(cid:214) new 

4. (cid:214) The Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 8 in order to lay 
down  the data collection characteristics and the contents of Annexes I to VII. The measure 
non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory 
procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 8(3). 

(cid:208) 399/2009 Art. 1(2) 
(cid:214) new 

Article 4 

Precision of results 

The  methods  for  the  collection  and  processing  of  data  must  be  designed  to  ensure  that  the 
statistical  results  transmitted  by  the  Member  States  meet  minimum  standards  of  precision, 
taking  account  of  the  structural  characteristics  of  road  transport  in  the  Member  States. 
(cid:214) The Commission  shall  adopt  delegated  acts  in  accordance  with  Article  8  in  order  to  lay 
down   the  precision  requirements.  The  measures,  amend  non-essential  elements  of  this 
Regulation,  shall  be  adopted  in  accordance  with  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny 
referred to in Article 8(3). 

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(cid:208) 1172/98 

Article 5 

Transmission of results to Eurostat 

1.  Member  States  shall  transmit  to  Eurostat  every  quarter  duly  verified  individual  data 
corresponding to the variables referred to in Article 3 and listed in Annex I, without indicating 
the name, address or registration number. 

Such  transmission  shall,  where  appropriate,  include  data  relating  to  previous  quarters  for 
which the data transmitted were provisional. 

2.  The  arrangements  for  transmitting  the  data  referred  to  in  paragraph  1,  including,  where 
appropriate, the statistical tables based on those data, shall be laid down in accordance with 
the procedure referred to in Article 11 (2). 

(cid:208) 399/2009 Art. 1(3)  

3. The transmission shall take place within five months of the end of each quarterly period of 
observation. 

The first transmission shall cover the first quarter of 1999. 

(cid:208) 1172/98 

(cid:208) 399/2009 Art. 1(4)  

Article 6 

Dissemination of results 

The provisions on the dissemination of statistical results in respect of the carriage of goods by 
road, including the structure and content of the results to be disseminated, shall be laid down 
in accordance with the management procedure referred to in Article 11 (2). 

(cid:208) 1172/98 

Article 7 

Reports 

1. Member States shall forward to Eurostat, on or before the date on which the first quarterly 
information is forwarded, a report on the methods used in compiling data. 

Member  States  shall  also  forward  to  Eurostat  details  of  any  substantial  changes  in  the 
methods used to collect the data. 

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2.  Member  States  shall  provide  Eurostat  with  information  each  year  on  sample  sizes,  non-
response rates and, in the form of standard error or confidence intervals, the reliability of the 
main results. 

(cid:216) new 

Article 8 

Exercise of delegation 

1. The power to adopt the delegated acts referred to in this Regulation shall be conferred on 
the Commission for an indefinite period. 

2. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the 
European Parliament and to the Council. 

3. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions 
laid down in Articles 9 and 10. 

Article 9 

Revocation of the delegation 

1.  The  delegation  of  power  referred  to  in  Article  8  may  be  revoked  by  the  European 
Parliament or by the Council. 

2. The institution which has commenced an internal procedure for deciding whether to revoke 
the delegation of power shall endeavour to inform the other institution and the Commission, 
at the latest one month before a final decision is taken, indicating the delegated powers which 
could be subject to a revocation and the possible reasons for a revocation. 

3.  The  decision  of  revocation  shall  put  an  end  to  the  delegation  of  powers  specified  in  that 
decision. It shall take effect immediately or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect 
the validity of the delegated acts already in force. It shall be published in the Official Journal 
of the European Union. 

Article 10 

Objection to the delegated acts 

1. The European Parliament and the Council may object to a delegated act within a period of 
two months from the date of notification. At the initiative of the European Parliament or the 
Council, that period shall be extended by one month. 

2.  If,  on  the  expiry  of  that  period,  neither  the  European  Parliament  nor  the  Council  has 
objected to the delegated act, or if, before that date, the European Parliament and the Council 
have  both  informed  the  Commission  of  their  intention  not  to  raise  objections,  the  delegated 
act shall enter into force on the date specified therein. 

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3. If the European Parliament or the Council objects to the delegated act, it shall not enter into 
force. The institution which objects shall state the reasons for objecting to the delegated act. 

(cid:208) 399/2009 Art. 1(6) (adapted) 

Article 11  

⌦ Committee Procedure ⌫ 

1.  The  Commission  shall  be  assisted  by  the  Statistical  Programme  Committee  set  up  by 
Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. 

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall 
apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. 

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months. 

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and (5)(a) and Article 7 of 
Decision No 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. 

(cid:208) 

Article 12  

Repeal 

Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 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 in Annex IX. 

(cid:208) 1172/98  

Article 13  

Entry into force 

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

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

Done at […] 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

ANNEXES 

LIST OF VARIABLES 

CLASSIFICATION OF AXLE CONFIGURATIONS 

Annex I 

Annex II 

Annex III 

CLASSIFICATION OF TYPES OF JOURNEY 

Annex IV 

CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS 

Annex V 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  CATEGORIES  OF  DANGEROUS 
GOODS 

Annex VI 

CLASSIFICATION OF CARGO TYPES 

Annex VII 

CODING  OF  PLACES  OF  LOADING  AND  UNLOADING 
⌦ BY COUNTRY AND REGION ⌫ 

⌦ Annex VIII ⌫  ⌦ REPEALED  REGULATION  WITH  LIST  OF 
SUCCESSIVE AMENDMENTS ⌫ 

ITS 

⌦ Annex IX ⌫  ⌦ CORRELATION TABLE ⌫ 

_______________ 

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(cid:208) 1172/98 

ANNEX I 

LIST OF VARIABLES 

The information to be provided for each vehicle breaks down into: 

A1. 

vehicle-related data; 

A2. 

journey-related data; 

A3. 

goods-related data (in the basic transport operation). 

A1 

VEHICLE-RELATED VARIABLES 

(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 
(cid:206)1 1893/2006 Art. 13 

Pursuant to the definition given in Article 2, a goods road transport vehicle shall be 
any  single  road  transport  vehicle  (lorry)  or  combination  of  road  vehicles,  namely 
road  train  (lorry  with  trailer)  or  articulated  vehicle  (road  tractor  with  semi-trailer) 
designed to carry goods. 

The vehicle-related data to be provided are the following: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

possibility of using vehicles for combined transport (optional);  

axle configuration according to Annex II (optional); 

age of the road transport vehicle (lorry or road tractor) in years (from its first 
registration); 

4.  maximum permissible weight, in 100 kg; 

5. 

6. 

load capacity, in 100 kg; 

vehicle operator's (cid:206)1 NACE Rev. 2  category of activity (four-figure level) 
(optional)9; 

7. 

type of transport (hire or reward/own account); 

8.  ⌦ total ⌫ kilometres covered during the survey period; 

8.1. 

loaded; 

8.2.  empty (including road tractor journeys without semi-trailer) (optional); 

9 

Statistical classification of economic activities in the European ⌦ Union ⌫. 

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9. 

vehicle weighting, to be used to obtain full results from individual data if the 
data are collected on the basis of random sampling. 

Successive configurations 

(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

When  the  road  transport  vehicle  chosen  for  the  survey  is  a  lorry  used  alone, 
⌦ namely ⌫  without ⌦ a ⌫  trailer,  throughout  the  survey  period,  it  constitutes 
in itself the road vehicle for transporting goods. 

(cid:208) 1172/98 

However, when the road transport vehicle chosen for the survey is a road tractor – in 
which case it will have a semi-trailer coupled – or when it is a lorry to which a trailer 
is  coupled,  the  data  required  under  the  Regulation  concern  the  road  vehicle  for  the 
transport  of  goods  taken  as  a  whole.  In  this  case,  there  may  be  a  change  of 
configuration during  the  survey period  (with a  lorry acquiring a  trailer or changing 
trailer during the period, or a road tractor changing its semi-trailer). In such a case, 
these successive configurations must be recorded, and  the  data on the vehicle must 
be supplied for each journey. However, if it is not possible to record these successive 
configurations, it is agreed that, for the vehicle-related variables, those corresponding 
to  the  configuration  at  the  beginning  of  the  first  laden  journey  made  during  the 
survey period or to the configuration used most during that period will be recorded. 

Change in type of transport 

In  the  same  way,  depending  on  the  journey,  the  transport  may  be  effected  on  own 
account  or  for  hire  or  reward,  and  the  type  of  transport  must  be  recorded  for  each 
journey. However, if it is not possible to record these changes, it is agreed that the 
‘type  of  transport’  recorded  will  be  that  corresponding  to  the  main  mode  of 
utilisation. 

A2 

JOURNEY-RELATED VARIABLES 

During  the  survey  period,  the  goods  road  transport  vehicle  makes  journeys,  either 
unloaded (there are no goods or empty packaging in the lorry, the trailer or the semi-
trailer, which are therefore ‘completely empty’) or loaded (there are either goods or 
empty packaging in the lorry, the trailer or the semi-trailer, empty packaging being a 
particular type of goods). The loaded distance of the goods road transport vehicle is 
the distance between the first place of loading and the last place of unloading (where 
the  goods  road  transport  vehicle  is  completely  emptied).  A  laden  journey  can 
therefore cover several basic transport operations. 

The data to be provided for each journey are as follows: 

1. 

type of journey in accordance with the nomenclature in Annex III; 

2.  weight of goods carried during the journey or during each stage of the journey, 

gross weight in 100 kg; 

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3. 

place of loading (of the goods road transport vehicle, for a laden journey); 

– 

definition:  the  place  of  loading  is  the  first  place  in  which  goods  are 
loaded  on  the  goods  road  transport  vehicle,  which  was  previously 
completely  empty  (or  where  the  road  tractor  is  coupled  up  to  a  laden 
semi-trailer). For an unladen journey, it is the place of unloading of the 
preceding  laden  journey  (notion  of  ‘place  where  unladen  journey 
begins’), 

– 

coding: the place of loading is coded in accordance with the provisions of 
Annex VII; 

4. 

place of unloading (of the goods road transport vehicle, for a laden journey): 

– 

– 

definition:  the  place  of  unloading  is  the  last  place  in  which  goods  are 
unloaded  from  the  goods  road  transport  vehicle,  which  is  subsequently 
completely  empty  (or  where  the  road  tractor  is  uncoupled  from  a  semi-
trailer).  For  an  unladen  journey,  it  is  the  place  of  loading  of  the 
subsequent laden journey (notion of ‘place where unladen journey ends’), 

coding: the place of unloading is coded in accordance with the provisions 
of Annex VII; 

5. 

distance travelled: actual distance excluding the distance covered by the goods 
road transport vehicle while being transported by another means of transport; 

6. 

tonnes/kilometre effected during the journey; 

7. 

countries crossed in transit (not more than 5), coded according to Annex VII; 

(cid:208) 2691/1999 Art. 1 pt. 1 

(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

8. 

9. 

10. 

place  of  loading,  if  any,  of  the  road  transport  vehicle  on  another  means  of 
transport in accordance with the provisions of Annex VII (optional); 

place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of 
transport in accordance with the provisions of Annex VII (optional); 

situation ‘fully loaded’ (procedure 2) or ‘not fully loaded’ (procedure 1) of the 
goods  road  transport  vehicle  during  the  journey  in  question,  in  terms  of 
maximum  volume  of  space  used  during  the  journey  (procedure  0  =  by 
convention for unladen journeys) (optional). 

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A3 

GOODS-RELATED VARIABLES (IN THE BASIC TRANSPORT OPERATION) 

During a laden journey, several basic transport operations can be carried out, a basic 
transport  operation being defined as the transport of one type of goods (defined by 
reference to a particular ⌦ classification ⌫ level) between its place of loading and 
its place of unloading. 

The data to be provided relating to a basic transport operation during a laden journey 
are as follows: 

1. 

type of goods, according to the groups referring to an appropriate classification 
(see Annex IV); 

2.  weight of goods: gross weight in 100 kg; 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

if need be, the classification of the goods as dangerous according to the main 
categories  of  Directive  2008/68/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council10 given in Annex V; 

type of freight as given in Annex VI (optional); 

place  of  loading  of  the  goods,  coded  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
Annex VII; 

place  of  unloading  of  the  goods,  coded  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
Annex VII; 

distance  travelled,  actual  distance  excluding  the  distance  covered  with  the 
goods  road  transport  vehicle  while  being  transported  by  another  means  of 
transport. 

Transport  operations  carried  out  during  a  ‘collection  or  distribution  round’ 
type of journey (journey-type 3) 

For this type of journey, with several loading and/or unloading points, it is practically 
impossible to ask the transport operators to describe the basic transport operations. 

For  these  journeys,  when  identified  as  such,  a  single,  notional,  basic  transport 
operation is generally generated on the basis of the information on the journey. 

Each Member State ⌦ shall ⌫ inform the Commission of its definition of this type 
of  journey  and  explain  the  simplifying  assumptions  it  is  obliged  to  apply  when 
collecting data on the corresponding transport operations. 

10 

OJ L 260, 30.9.2008, p. 13.  

EN 

16 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
(cid:208) 1172/98 

Methodological appendix 

Laden journeys and basic transport operations 

Depending on the Member State concerned, information on transport is collected on the basis 
of: 

– 

– 

either  a  description  of  each  basic  goods  transport  operation  (with  additional  details 
on unladen journeys), 

or a description of the journeys made by the vehicle in carrying out these basic goods 
transport operations. 

In  the  great  majority  of  cases,  when  a  laden  journey  is  made  this  represents  one  basic 
transport operation only with: 

a single type of goods loaded (by reference to the classification of goods in use, in 
this case the ⌦ 20 ⌫ groups derived from the NST classification)11, 

(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

a single point of loading for the goods, 

a single point of unloading for the goods. 

(cid:208) 1172/98 

– 

– 

– 

In this case the two methods used are completely equivalent, and the information collected by 
either method describes both: 

– 

– 

the transportation of the goods (all the basic goods transport operations), 

the  journeys  made  by  the  vehicles  carrying  out  these  operations,  with  details  of 
vehicle  capacities  and  utilisation  of  these  capacities  (laden  journey  with  utilisation 
coefficient; unladen journey). 

Under  this  Regulation,  the  transportation  of  goods  and  the  journeys  made  by  the  vehicles 
must both be described, but it is undesirable to impose on the transport operators an excessive 
increase in the burden of statistics by asking them to describe in detail the transportation of 
goods and the vehicle journeys. 

Accordingly,  the  NSOs  in  the  Member  States,  when  coding  the  questionnaires,  must 
reconstitute the data which are not explicitly required  from the  transport  operators from the 
data which they collect on the basis of either the ‘basic transport operation’, or the ‘vehicle 
journey’. 

11 

NST: Uniform nomenclature of goods for transport statistics. 

EN 

17 

   EN 

 
 
 
                                                 
The problem will arise when several basic transport operations are carried out in the course of 
one laden journey, which may be because: 

– 

– 

there  are  several  points  of  loading  and/or  unloading  of  the  goods  (but  limited  in 
number,  otherwise  these  would  be  pick-up  or  distribution  rounds,  which  require 
special treatment). 

In this case, these various loading and/or unloading points are recorded, in order to 
calculate directly the tonnes/kilometre effected during the journey, and the statistical 
office can reconstitute the basic transport operations, 

and/or the fact that there are several different types of goods transported during the 
laden journey, a fact which in general is not recorded in the statistics, since only the 
type of goods (single or main) is requested. 

In this case the loss of information is accepted and Member States carrying out this 
type of simplification will make explicit mention of it to the Commission. 

_____________ 

EN 

18 

   EN 

 
 
(cid:208) 1172/98 

ANNEX II 

CLASSIFICATION OF AXLE CONFIGURATIONS 

Where  a  combination  of  vehicles  is  used,  the  axle  configuration  counts  the  total  number  of 
axles, ⌦ namely ⌫ the axles of the lorry or the road tractor, plus those of the trailer or semi-
trailer. 

(cid:208) 1172/98 (adapted) 

The axle categories considered are as follows: 

1. 

Number of axles of single vehicles (lorries): 

2 

3 

4 

other 

2. 

Number of axles for combinations of vehicles: lorry and trailer: 

2+1 

2+2 

2+3 

3+2 

3+3 

other 

3. 

Number  of  axles  for  combinations  of  vehicles:  road  tractor  and 
semi-trailer: 

2+1 

2+2 

2+3 

3+2 

3+3 

other 

4. 

Road tractor alone 

_____________ 

Coding 

120 

130 

140 

199 

221 

222 

223 

232 

233 

299 

321 

322 

323 

332 

333 

399 

499 

EN 

19 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ANNEX III 

CLASSIFICATION OF TYPES OF JOURNEY 

Laden journey involving one single basic transport operation. 

Laden  journey  involving  several  transport  operations,  but  not  considered  as  a 
collection or distribution round. 

Laden journey of the collection or distribution round type. 

Unladen journeys. 

______________ 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

EN 

20 

   EN 

(cid:208) 1304/2007 Art. 2 

ANNEX IV 

CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS 

NST 2007 

Division 

Description 

01 

02 

03 

04 

05 

06 

07 

08 

09 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

Products of agriculture, hunting, and forestry; fish and other fishing 
products 

Coal and lignite; crude petroleum and natural gas 

Metal ores and other mining and quarrying products; peat; uranium 
and thorium 

Food products, beverages and tobacco 

Textiles and textile products; leather and leather products 

Wood and products of wood and cork (except furniture); articles of 
straw and plaiting materials; pulp, paper and paper products; printed 
matter and recorded media 

Coke and refined petroleum products 

Chemicals,  chemical  products,  and  man-made  fibres;  rubber  and 
plastic products; nuclear fuel 

Other non-metallic mineral products 

Basic  metals;  fabricated  metal  products,  except  machinery  and 
equipment 

Machinery  and  equipment  n.e.c.;  office  machinery  and  computers; 
electrical  machinery  and  apparatus  n.e.c.;  radio,  television  and 
communication  equipment  and  apparatus;  medical,  precision  and 
optical instruments; watches and clocks 

Transport equipment 

Furniture; other manufactured goods n.e.c. 

Secondary raw materials; municipal wastes and other wastes 

Mail, parcels 

Equipment and material utilised in the transport of goods 

EN 

21 

   EN 

 
Division 

Description 

17 

18 

19 

20 

Goods  moved  in  the  course  of  household  and  office  removals; 
baggage  transported  separately  from  passengers;  motor  vehicles 
being moved for repair; other non-market goods n.e.c. 

Grouped goods: a mixture of types of goods which are transported 
together 

Unidentifiable  goods:  goods  which  for  any  reason  cannot  be 
identified and therefore cannot be assigned to groups 1–16. 

Other goods n.e.c. 

_______________ 

EN 

22 

   EN 

(cid:208) 1172/98  

ANNEX V 

CLASSIFICATION OF CATEGORIES OF DANGEROUS GOODS 

Explosives 

Gases, compressed, liquefied or dissolved under pressure 

Flammable liquids 

Flammable solids 

Substances liable to spontaneous combustion 

Substances which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases 

Oxidising substances 

Organic peroxides 

Toxic substances 

Substances liable to cause infections 

Radioactive material 

Corrosives 

Miscellaneous dangerous substances 

_______________ 

1 

2 

3 

4.1 

4.2 

4.3 

5.1 

5.2 

6.1 

6.2 

7 

8 

9 

EN 

23 

   EN 

 
ANNEX VI 

CLASSIFICATION OF CARGO TYPES* 

0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Liquid bulk goods (no cargo unit) 

Solid bulk goods (no cargo unit) 

Large freight containers 

Other freight containers 

Palletised goods 

Pre-slung goods 

Mobile, self-propelled units 

Other mobile units 

(Reserved) 

9 
______________________________ 

Other cargo types  

* 

United  Nations,  Economic  Commission  for  Europe  –  Codes  for  types  of  cargo,  packages  and 
packaging  materials,  Recommendation  21  adopted  by  the  Working  Party  on  Facilitation  of 
International Trade Procedures, Geneva, March 1986. 

______________ 

EN 

24 

   EN 

(cid:208) 2691/1999 Art. 1 pt. 2 and 
Annex (adapted) 

ANNEX VII 

CODING OF PLACES OF LOADING AND UNLOADING BY COUNTRY AND 
REGION 

1. 

The places of loading and unloading will be coded as follows: 

(a) 

(b) 

regional  breakdown  to  Level  3  of  the  Nomenclature  of  Territorial  Units  for 
Statistics (NUTS), for the Member States; 

lists  of  administrative  regions  supplied  by  the  third  country  concerned,  for 
States which are not ⌦ Members ⌫ but which are contracting parties to the 
Agreement  on  the  European  Economic  Area  (EEA),  namely  Iceland, 
Liechtenstein and Norway; 

(c) 

for other third countries, the 2-alpha ISO-3166 codes should be used. The most 
frequently-used codes are given in the table ⌦ in point 2(b) of this Annex ⌫. 

2. 

For  the  coding  of  countries  crossed  in  transit  (section  7  of  Annex  I,  part  A2),  the 
following country codes are to be used: 

(a) 

(b) 

the  2-alpha  part  of  the  NUTS  codes,  as  given  in  the  table  below,  for  the 
Member States: 

for all other countries, the 2-alpha ISO-3166 codes should be used. The most 
frequently-used codes are given in the table below. 

EN 

25 

   EN 

 
Table of country codes 

(a) 

Member States (corresponding to NUTS 2-alpha country codes) 

Note: countries in official ⌦ European Union ⌫ order. 

Country name 

Belgium 

Bulgaria 

Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Germany 

Estonia 

(cid:208) 1791/2006 Annex, pt. 8.5(a) 
(adapted) 

Code 

BE 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

DE 

EE 

⌦ Ireland ⌫ 

⌦ IE ⌫ 

Greece 

Spain 

France 

Italy 

Cyprus 

Latvia 

Lithuania 

Luxembourg 

Hungary 

Malta 

Netherlands 

Austria 

Poland 

 GR 

ES 

FR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

HU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PL 

EN 

26 

   EN 

 
Portugal 

Romania 

Slovenia 

Slovakia 

Finland 

Sweden 

United Kingdom 

PT 

RO 

SI 

SK 

FI 

SE 

UK 

(b) 

Other countries (ISO-3166 2-alpha codes) 

Note: countries ordered by code. 

(cid:208) 2691/1999 Art. 1 pt. 2 and 
Annex (adapted) 

Country name 

Albania 

Bosnia-Herzegovina 

Belarus 

Switzerland 

Croatia 

Iceland 

Liechtenstein 

⌦ Republic of ⌫ Moldova 

⌦ Montenegro ⌫ 

Former Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia 

Norway 

Russian Federation 

Code 

AL 

BA 

BY 

CH 

HR 

IS 

LI 

MD 

⌦ ME ⌫ 

MK ⌦ 12 ⌫ 

NO 

RU 

12 

Provisional  code,  which  does  not  prejudge  in  any  way  the  definitive  nomenclature  for  this  country, 
which will be agreed following the conclusion of negotiations currently taking place on this subject at 
the United Nations. 

EN 

27 

   EN 

 
                                                 
⌦ Serbia ⌫ 

⌦ RS ⌫ 

Turkey 

Ukraine 

______________ 

TR 

UA 

EN 

28 

   EN 

(cid:207) 

ANNEX VIII 

Part A 

Repealed Regulation with list of its successive amendments 

Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98  
(OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1) 

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2691/1999  
(OJ L 326, 18.12.1999, p. 39) 

Point 10.15 of Annex II to the 2003 Act of Accession 
(OJ L 236, 23.9.2003, p. 561) 

Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council 
(OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1) 

Only Annex II, point 27 

Council Regulation (EC) No 1791/2006 
(OJ L 363, 20.12.2006, p. 1) 

Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council 
(OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1) 

Only point 8.5 of the 
Annex 

Only Article 13 

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 
(OJ L 290, 8.11.2007, p. 14) 

Only Article 2 

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council 
(OJ L 126, 21.5.2009, p. 9) 

_____________ 

EN 

29 

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ANNEX IX 

CORRELATION TABLE 

Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 

This Regulation 

Article 1 

Article 1 

Article 2, first to fourteenth indents 

Article 2, points (a) to (n) 

Article 3 

Article 4 

Article 3 

Article 4 

Article 5(1), (2) and (3) 

Article 5(1), (2) and (3) 

Article 5(4) 

Article 5(5) 

Article 6 

________ 

________ 

Article 6 

Article 7(1) and (2) 

Article 7(1) and (2) 

Article 7(3) 

Article 8 

________ 

________ 

________ 

________ 

________ 

Article 8 

Article 9 

Article 10 

Article 10(1) and (2) 

Article 11(1) and (2) 

Article 10(3) 

Article 11 

________ 

Article 12 

________ 

________ 

Article 12 

Article 13 

Annexes A to G 

Annexes I to VII 

________ 

________ 

Annex VIII 

Annex IX 

_____________ 

EN 

30 

   EN