REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation in 2013-2014 of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport and of Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities (28th report from the Commission on the implementation of the social legislation relating to road transport)
Date: 2017-03-07
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, application of EU law, arrangement of working time, drivers, driving period, rest period, road safety, road transport, social legislation, transport statistics

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 7.3.2017  
COM(2017) 117 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the implementation in 2013-2014 of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on the 
harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport and of Directive 
2002/15/EC on the organisation of the working time of persons performing mobile road 
transport activities 

(28th report from the Commission on the implementation of the social legislation 
relating to road transport) 
{SWD(2017) 100 final} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
I. 

Introduction 

This report reviews the implementation by Member States of the four interrelated legislative 
acts establishing social rules in road transport and their enforcement regime. These legislative 
acts are: Regulation (EC) No 561/20061, which establishes rules on driving times, breaks and 
rest  periods  for  professional  drivers;  Directive  2006/22/EC2,  which  determines  minimum 
requirements  for  enforcement  of  these  rules;  Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  3821/853  on 
recording  equipment,  i.e.  main  tool  to  control  the  drivers'  compliance  with  social  rules  and 
Directive 2002/15/EC4, which sets out complementary provisions on  the organisation  of the 
working  time  of  persons  performing  mobile  road  transport  activities  (here-after  "the  Road 
Transport Working Time Directive). The Commission is currently evaluating the Regulation 
(EC) No 561/2006 and intends to table a proposal for a targeted revision in 2017 as part of the 
Road Initiative. 

Article  17  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  561/2006  requires  Member  States  to  communicate  every 
two  years  the  necessary  information  to  enable  the  Commission  to  draw  up  a  report  on  the 
application  of  that  Regulation  and  the  developments  in  the  fields  in  question.  Article  13  of 
Directive  2002/15/EC  provides  that Member States should report to the Commission on the 
implementation  of  the  Directive,  indicating  the  views  of  the  two  sides  of  the  industry.  The 
reports on Directive 2002/15/EC and Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 can be presented in one 
single  document  as  both  legislative  acts  cover  the  same  two-year  reporting  period  and 
establish  complementary  rules  for  professional  drivers  engaged  in  the  carriage  of  goods  or 
passengers. 

This report covers the period of 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2014. It is based mainly on 
the national reports, for which the submission deadline expired on 30 September 2015. Its aim 
is to provide an overview of how Member States have implemented the above-mentioned set 
of legislative acts and to  highlight the key challenges in enforcement and application of the 
rules in force. The report contains both quantitative and qualitative data on checks carried out 
at roadside and premises, offences detected as well as information on the implementation of 
Road  Transport  Working  Time  Directive.  The  Commission  report  is  complemented  by  a 

1  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 3820/85 (OJ L 102, 11.4.2006, p. 
1) 

2  Directive  2006/22/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  15  March  2006  on  minimum 
conditions for the implementation of Council Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85 concerning 
social  legislation  relating  to  road  transport  activities  and  repealing  Council  Directive  88/599/EEC  (OJ  L  102, 
11.4.2006, p. 36) 

3 Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 of 20 December 1985 on recording equipment in road transport (OJ L 
370, 31.12.1985, p. 8), repealed by Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of  4  February  2014  on  tachographs  in  road  transport,  repealing  Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  3821/85  on 
recording equipment in road transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament 
and  of  the  Council  on  the  harmonisation  of  certain  social  legislation  relating  to  road  transport  (OJ  L  60, 
28.2.2014, p. 1) 

4 Directive 2002/15/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 on the organisation of 
the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities (OJ L 80, 23.3.2002, p. 35) 

2 

 
 
                                                            
Commission Staff Working Document that contains supplementary information on penalties, 
cooperation  between  Member  States,  comments  from  enforcement  authorities  and  detailed 
statistical data.  

The  report  comprises  four  sections  that  cover  various  aspects  of  implementation  of  social 
legislation.  Section  I  summarizes  the  quality  and  timeliness  of  national  data  submissions. 
Section  II  provides  a  full  analysis  of  the  national  quantitative  data  provided  on  the  checks 
performed  and  offences  detected,  whereas  Section  III  gives  a  descriptive  outline  of  the 
Member  States  implementation  of  Directive  2002/15/EC.  Section  IV  presents  the  main 
conclusions drawn.  

Objectives and key provisions of social legislation in road transport, as well as other aspects 
and  detailed  statistics  concerning  the  results  of  checks  carried  out,  are  described  in  the 
Commission Staff Working Document accompanying this report.    

Data submission 

The  national  reports  on  the  implementation  of  the  provisions  of  Directive  2002/15/EC  and 
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 should be submitted by means of the standard form set out in 
Commission  Decision  2009/810/EC5.  This  standard 
reporting 
requirements  of  these  two  legislative  acts,  and  by  means  of  an  interactive  reporting  format 
gathers quantitative and qualitative data that constitutes a crucial input to this report. 

form  combines 

the 

The  Commission  notes  that  in  general  Member  States  provided  national  reports  of  slightly 
better quality and timeliness then in the previous years. This applies in particular to data on 
the  implementation  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  561/2005.  However,  further  improvements  are 
encouraged as regards the national data collection process. More in-depth description of data 
submission is included in the Commission Staff Working Document accompanying this report 
(hereafter "the accompanying document").  

In  addition,  Member  States  informed  the  Commission  of  the  exceptions  granted  from  the 
application of provisions on driving times, breaks and rest periods in accordance with Article 
13  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  561/2006.  The  updated  list  of  exceptions  is  included  in  the 
accompanying document and available on the Commission's website6.   

II.  Analysis of data on implementation of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 

1. Checks 

According to Article 2 of Directive 2006/22/EC, Member States should organise a system of 
appropriate  and  regular  checks,  both  at  the  roadside  and  at  premises  of  undertakings  of  all 
transport  categories.  These  checks  should  cover  each  year  a  large  and  representative  cross-
section  of  mobile  workers,  drivers,  undertakings  and  vehicles.  Paragraph  3  of  Article  2 

5 Commission Decision 2009/810 of 22 September 2008 drawing up the standard reporting form referred to in 
Article  17  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  561/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  (OJ  L  289, 
5.11.2009, p.9) 

6https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/modes/road/social_provisions/driving_time/doc/national
_exceptions_regulation_2006_561.pdf       

3 

 
 
                                                            
requires that the minimum number of checks in 2013 and 2014 should cover at least 3% of 
days worked by drivers of vehicles falling within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 561/20067.  

Graph 1 – Total number of working days checked per Member State  

Graph 1 gives an overview of the number of working days checked in each Member State, in 
the current and previous reporting periods. On average the total number of working days 
checked  in  the  EU  noted  a  decrease  of  4.8%  from  158.6  to  151  million  working  days 
checked. In addition, it should be noted that this reporting period, for the first time included 
data from Croatia, which added 0.5 million of working days checked.  

Although the overall number of checks remains high, numbers generally decreased in 2013 - 
2014.  Looking  closely  at  the  number  of  working  days  effectively  checked  in  relation  to  the 
minimum number of working days to be checked (Graph 2), it is noticeable that the majority 
of Member States performed more checks than required by Directive 2006/22/EC.  There are 
four Member States, which did not meet the threshold: i.e. Croatia, Lithuania, the Netherlands 
and Greece. While the first three Member States were slightly below the threshold, the extent 
of  disparity  between  the  threshold  and  the  number  of  checks  reported  in  Greece  remains 
considerable. Therefore, the Commission will continue monitoring the developments in these 
Member States and starting from the most severe cases will take action to assure the correct 
application of Directive 2006/22/EC.    

Detailed  description  of  compliance  with  the  threshold  is  presented  in  the  accompanying 
document.  

7 The minimum rate is calculated separately for each Member State, based on the total number of days worked 
per  driver  during  the  two-year  period  and  the  total  number  of  vehicles  subject  to  the  Regulation.  These  two 
factors are multiplied, which equals to a total number of days worked by drivers of vehicles falling within the 
scope of these Regulations and out of this amount a 3% is determined that constitutes the minimum number of 
checks that should be performed in each Member State.   

4 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
Graph 2: Percentage of working days checked per Member State 

Regarding the type of controls, Article 2 of Directive 2006/22/EC sets out the ratio between 
the number of roadside controls (in terms of working days to be checked) and the checks at 
premises,  which  should  amount  to  at  least  30%  and  50%  respectively.  It  should  be 
emphasised  that  pursuant  to  Article  2  of  Directive  2006/22/EC  the  calculation  of  this 
proportion is based on the number of checks actually performed by each Member State and 
not  on  the  minimum  number  of  working  days  to  be  checked.  Nevertheless,  for  the  current 
reporting period most of the controls are performed at the roadside. On average 77% of all 
controls  took  place  at  the  roadside,  which  shows  slight  improvement  from  80%  in  the 
previous reporting period. Only Ireland was below the 30% threshold for roadside checks.  

1.1 Roadside checks 

In total over the period of 2013 and 2014 more than 6.68 million vehicles and approximately 
7.4  million  drivers  were  controlled  during  checks  at  the  roadside.  These  values  stand  for 
decreases  of  respectively  23.9%  and  15%  in  relation  to  the  previous  reporting  period  and 
mark a continuation of the downward trend noted in former reports. The reason for a higher 
number of drivers checked than a number of vehicles is twofold: the double manning as well 
as missing data on this matter from Denmark on the number of vehicles checked at roadside.  

The drop of 15% in the absolute number of drivers controlled at roadside is not matched by 
the corresponding increase in the number of drivers controlled at premises and results in the 
overall decrease in the numbers of drivers checked both at roadside and premises of 13%.  

Checks in Member States, involved in the majority, national vehicles and drivers and equalled 
respectively  65%  and  64%  of  all  vehicles  or  drivers  checked  at  roadside.  In  six  Member 
States,  namely  Austria,  Belgium,  France,  Luxembourg,  Malta  and  Slovenia,  the  pattern  is 
reversed and more non-national vehicles were subject to a control. This in some cases may be 

8 Denmark failed to provide the number of vehicles checked at roadside 

5 

 
 
 
                                                            
explained  by  the  size  or  geographic  position  of  these  Member  States.  Detailed  rates  are 
incorporated in the accompanying document. As non-discrimination is one of the fundamental 
principles  of  the  EU  Treaties  and  a  key  requirement  for  carrying  out  roadside  checks9,  the 
Commission may consider taking appropriate measures in order to ensure the equal treatment 
of drivers and operators in Member States where the checks are performed more frequently in 
regard to non-resident drivers and operators. 

1.2 Checks at premises  

The  number  of  undertakings  checked  by  Member  States  remained  steady.  The  increase  of 
approximately  1%  was  noted  in  comparison  with  the  reporting  period  of  2011-2012. 
However, it should be taken into account that this report includes for the first time the data 
from Croatia and Finland. In the current reporting period it amounted to 147 606 undertakings 
checked,  which  covered  checks  of  almost  756  thousand  drivers  across  the  EU.  Over  34.4 
million  working  days  were  checked  at  premises,  which  signifies  that  the  rate  of  growth 
slowed  down  as  an  increase  between  the  reporting  periods  of  2009-2010  and  2011-2012 
equalled to 17%, while it grew by 11% between the current and the last period. Therefore as 
the comparable number of undertakings checked resulted in the increased number of working 
days checked, it can be assumed, with other factors remaining stable, that the efficiency of the 
checks at premises increased significantly.  

2. Offences 

All  Member  States  provided  data  on  offences  detected,  though  with  a  divergent  level  of 
details.  The  downward  trend  in  the  number  of  offences  that  started  from  the  previous 
period  2011-2012  was  maintained  and  in  the  current  reporting  period  marked  a 
decrease of 15% versus the last period in the number of offences detected. In real values 
it shows a decline from approximately 3.9 million reported in the period 2011-2012 to almost 
3.3 million in the current reporting period. This decrease is driven by the considerable drop of 
25% of offences detected at premises together with 7.7% decrease at roadside.  

This change could suggest an improved compliance with the provisions of social legislation 
thanks to well-established enforcement practices and greater awareness of social rules among 
drivers.  However,  this  positive  effect  might  be  mitigated  by  the  decrease  of  4.8%  in  the 
number  of  working  days  checked  or  other  factors  such  as,  for  example,  tachograph 
manipulation practices distorting findings from the controls.  

The table below shows that proportions between categories of infringements maintain similar 
levels compared with the previous reporting periods. The slight decline observed for offences 
on  breaks  and  driving  time  is  counterbalanced  by  increases  in  the  offences  concerning  rest 
periods, lack of records for other work and recording equipment offences. 

9 Article 4.4 of Directive 2006/22/EC 

6 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
Period 

Breaks  Rest 

periods 

Driving 
time 

Driving 
time 
records 
17% 

Recording 
equipment 

Lack/availability 
for 
of  records 
other work  

23% 

25% 

16% 

26% 

24% 

19% 

17% 

29% 

23% 

18% 

15% 

10% 

8% 

5% 

30% 

25% 

20% 

14% 

10% 

8% 

6% 

8% 

1% 

2013-
2014 

2011-
2012 
2009-
2010 
2007-
2008 

Table 1 - Categories of infringements detected at roadside and premises 

Graph 3 – Categories of infringements detected at roadside and premises  

Categories of infringements detected at roadside and premises are described separately in the 
accompanying document.  

Compared  to  the  previous  reporting  period,  in  2013-2014  the  average  rate  of  offences 
detected  declined  by  11%  and  equalled  to  2.17  offences  per  100  working  days  checked.  It 
appears that checks at premises continue to be more effective than ad-hoc roadside controls as 
the detection rate at premises is 2 times higher than at roadside. It is, however, to be noted that 
in  the  previous  reporting  period,  the  detection  rate  at  premises  was  3  times  higher  as  a 
detection rate at roadside and in the preceding period 2009-2010 it was 5 times higher. This 
change is due mainly to a considerable drop in detection rates at premises from 5.29 in years 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
2011-2012 to 3.54 in this reporting period. There are vast disparities in offence detection rates 
at premises per 100 days checked between Member States ranging from 0.02 in Bulgaria, 0.03 
in Latvia and Portugal to 14.01 in Germany and 7.65 in the Netherlands.  

It seems that the change in the EU average offence detection rate at premises is affected by a 
significant  decline  for  the  second  time  in  a  row  (by  29%  between  the  previous  and  current 
reporting  period)  in  the  number  of  reported  offences  at  premises  in  Germany,  which  in  this 
reporting  period  still  had  the  largest  share  of  all  offences  detected  at  premises  in  Europe 
(51%).  

Graph 4 – Number of offences detected per 100 working days checked in 2009-2010, 
2011-2012 and 2013-2014 

Despite  divergent  fluctuations  in  different  Member  States  regarding  the  number  of  offences 
detected  per  reporting  period10,  on  average  there  is  a  distinctive  decrease  in  the  number  of 
offences reported. Detailed description of detection rates in Member States is included in the 
accompanying document. These discrepancies in detection rates reveal that the European 
Union  is  far  from  establishing  a  harmonised  enforcement  area  because  of  diverging 
enforcement  resources  and  practices  in  controlling  compliance  with  road  transport 
legislation, as well as diverging penalty systems. 

2.1 Offences detected at roadside  

In  the  period  2013-2014,  2.05  million  roadside  offences  were  detected  at  European  level, 
which constituted 63% of all detected offences both at roadside and premises. This indicates a 
decline in quantitative terms by almost 172 thousand, which means by 7.7% as compared to 
the  previous  reporting  period.  Per  each  100  working  days  checked  1.77  offences  have  been 
detected compared to 1.74 in the previous reporting period.  

10 Detailed information on changes in particular Member States is included in the accompanying document.  

8 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
On  average  66%  of  offences  were  detected  on  national  drivers11,  which  correlates  with  the 
66% rate of national drivers checked in Europe. However, there are Member States where the 
number  of  detected  offences  related  to  non-nationals  prevails,  namely  Luxembourg  (78%), 
Sweden  (67%),  Lithuania  (65%),  Belgium  (64%),  Bulgaria  (59%),  Slovenia  (58%),  Austria 
(58%) and France (54%).  

This  trend  can  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  all  the  above  Member  States  performed  more 
controls  of  non-national  drivers  apart  from  Bulgaria,  Lithuania  and  Sweden.  In  the  case  of 
these three Member States, the offences detected by non-residents are disproportionately more 
frequent. In the case of Bulgaria where 36% of non-national drivers checked equalled 59% of 
offences  committed,  Sweden  which  performed  42%  controls  on  non-national  drivers  which 
resulted in 67% of offences detected and Lithuania with 44% of non-national drivers checked 
led  to  65%  of  offences  detected  at  roadside.  The  increase  of  offences  committed  by  non-
residents might be alarming in Sweden where the rate continues to raise from 31% in 2009-
2010 to 57% in 2011-2012 and 67% in the current reporting period.  

2.2 Offences detected at premises 

During  the  current  reporting  period,  Member  States  reported  altogether  over  1.2  million 
offences  detected  at  premises  of  undertakings,  constituting  37%  of  an  overall  number  of 
offences. This marks a decrease of 25% as compared to the previous biennial period. These 
figures should be seen in correlation with the steady number of undertakings checked which 
augmented by 1%12. Taking into consideration these two aspects, the constant improvement in 
compliance with social rules could be noted.  

In  terms  of  frequency  of  offences  reported  per  100  working  days  checked,  the  European 
average marked a positive tendency and decreased from 8.65 in 2009-2010 to 5.29 in 2011-
2012 to 3.54 in the current reporting period. This decrease in frequency of violations detected 
can indicate that all the activities aiming at better compliance with social legislation in road 
transport start to yield results.  

III. Data analysis on the implementation of the Road Transport Working Time Directive 

(Directive 2002/15/EC) 

1.  Introduction  

This  chapter  deals  with  the  implementation  by  Member  States  in  2013-2014  of  Directive 
2002/15/EC, also referred to as the "Road Transport Working Time Directive". According to 
Article  13  of  this  Directive,  Member  States  are  obliged  to  submit  a  report  on  its 
implementation  to  the  Commission  every  two  years,  indicating  the  views  of  employees  and 
employers at national level. Descriptive parts on the transposition of this Directive in Member 
States,  stakeholders'  views  on  implementation  and  monitoring,  control  arrangements  in 
Member States and enforcement issues are included in the accompanying document.  

11 In Denmark, the number of detected offences related to non-nationals amounted to 90%. However, this result 
is not representative due to a substantial amount of missing data on which this calculation was based. For this 
reason the number was not counted in the European average.  
12 This increase can be explained as a result of including for the first time data from Croatia and Finland.  

9 

 
 
 
                                                            
2.  The scope of Directive 2002/15/EC 

The  Directive  establishes  rules  governing,  inter  alia,  adequate  breaks  during  the  working 
period,  the  maximum  average  working  week  and  night  work.  Its  provisions  supplement  the 
rules on driving times, breaks and rest periods established by Regulation (EC) No 561/2006. 

As this Directive lays down certain provisions concerning hours of work that are specific to 
the road transport sector, it is regarded as a lex specialis to the general Directive 2003/88/EC13  
on working time, which establishes basic requirements for the organisation of working time 
for all workers. However, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union contains 
provisions concerning working time and working conditions under its Article 31, which have 
to be respected when implementing EU law. A number of basic protection provisions of the 
general  working  time  Directive,  including  rules  on  annual  leave  and  free  health  assessment 
for night workers, are also applicable to mobile workers in road transport. 

3.  Submission and quality of national reports 

A  common  reporting  format  was  established  by  the  Commission  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
reporting efforts of Member States, to reduce administrative burden and to prevent excessive 
delays  in  the  submission  of  Member  States  reports.  However,  the  quality  of  submissions 
varies  significantly.  Several  Member  States14  provided  very  scarce  and  incomplete 
information or indicated that there were no changes as compared to the previous period. The 
national  reports  from  remaining 
information  on 
implementation  of  Directive  2002/15/EC  in  terms  of  institutional  organisation,  monitoring 
challenges  as  well  as  some  statistics  on  carried  out  checks  and  detected  offences  and  in 
general the process of imposing sanctions. Nevertheless, due to incomplete submissions, the 
results of this analysis cannot be considered as representative for the whole European Union.  

twenty  Member  States 

included 

4.  Implementation aspects in Member States 

Following  the  previous  reporting  period,  during  which  many  Member  States  informed  on 
amendments  of  their  legislative  framework  in  order  to  include  self-employed  drivers  in  its 
scope15,  this  reporting  period  resulted  in  two  notifications  from  Malta  and  Poland.  In  Malta 
the  amendments  to  the  Motor  Vehicle  Regulations  and  Passenger  Transport  Services 
Regulations were drafted to fully transpose the requirements of the Directive to include self-
employed  drivers  and  will  be  published  shortly.  In  Poland  the  law  covering  self-employed 
drivers with the working time rules entered into force on 16 July 2013.   

Directive 2002/15/EC was perceived as a good set of arrangements that helped to deal with 
definition of working time and its limits. Germany noted that the Directive together with the 
driving  times  and  rest  periods  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  561/2006  by  ensuring  the  minimum 
conditions  for  the  organization  of  working  time  in  road  transport,  contributes  towards 

13 Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain 
aspects of the organisation of working time (OJ L 299, 18.11.2003, p.9) 

14 Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania.  

15 Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta (on-going), Poland, Portugal, Sweden, the United 
Kingdom. 

10 

 
 
                                                            
guaranteeing  the  safety  and  health  protection  for  the  employees  as  well  as  to  general  road 
safety  in  the  EU.  Furthermore  these  rules  prevent  distortions  of  competition  due  to 
exploitation  of  employees.  Therefore,  Germany  considers  that  there  is  no  urgent  need  to 
change the Directive. Along the same lines, the Stakeholder Working Group set up in the UK 
concluded  that  it  would  not  be  advisable  to  reopen  negotiations  on  the  legislation  covering 
drivers' working time due to the risk of increasing the complexity and burdensomeness of the 
regime.   

However,  several  Member  States  raised  their  concerns  as  regards  the  inclusion  of  self-
employed drivers in the scope of the rules. Finland considers that the obligations concerning 
self-employed drivers under the Directive should be repealed, because it creates unnecessary 
administrative  burdens  and  Regulation  (EC)  No  561/2006  provides  adequate  rules  for  self-
employed  drivers.  Belgium  stated  that  in  practice  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  control  the 
application of the rules as it is undesirable to disturb the rest of the self-employed drivers with 
the controls. Additional difficulties when inspecting self-employed drivers were indicated by 
Bulgaria, which referred to an issue of selecting drivers for a control as there is no official list 
indicating the number or location of self-employed drivers. According to Bulgarian law self-
employed drivers are not falling within the scope of the obligation to keep record of working 
times  and  working  arrangements  available  for  inspection  at  their  business  premises  and  to 
designate  the  person  who  is  given  the  task  of  presenting  these  records  on  demand  by  the 
Labour  Inspectorate.  In  addition,  binding  instructions  cannot  be  issued  by  the  Bulgarian 
Labour Inspectorate to the self-employed-drivers.  

Despite  other  mentioned  issues  in  relation  to  monitoring  the  compliance  with  the  rules 
(described in the Commission Staff Working Document accompanying this report), it is worth 
noting that Member States put a big emphasis on providing guidance on how to comply with 
the provisions of this Directive and to raise the awareness of the rules in place. 

4.1 Offences against working time rules 

Seven  Member  States,  namely  Austria,  Estonia,  Finland,  Germany,  Hungary,  Ireland  and 
Sweden informed about the possibility in the first instance when the deficiency is detected to 
order  its  rectification  within  a  defined  period.  In  the  absence  of  the  correction  the 
infringement is then pursued by the enforcement authorities in accordance with the national 
arrangements;  i.e.  imposition  of  a  penalty,  bringing  a  charge  before  the  relevant  body  or 
initiating the prosecution. This system is perceived as advantageous by enabling offenders the 
possibility  to  change  their  behaviour,  implement  new  procedures,  use  new  technologies  or 
adjust their practices to increase compliance with the rules in place.  

Ten Member States16 provided statistics on offences detected, which is not sufficient for any 
global  conclusions  to  be  drawn.  As  in  comparison  with  the  previous  reporting  period  four 
more  Member  States  provided  data  on  infringements.  All  Member  States  are  invited  to 
include this information in the next reports.  

16 Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain 

11 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
5. Stakeholders' views on implementation of Directive 2002/15/EC 

Only  ten  Member  States17  confirmed  that  stakeholders  had  been  consulted,  as  required  by 
Directive 2002/15/EC, which marks a significant decline as compared to the reporting period 
of 2011-2012, when sixteen Member States indicated the fulfilment of this obligation. 

In general, there was a consensus among employers and employees that Directive 2002/15/EC 
contributed to health and safety protection of drivers. In Ireland, the employers expressed an 
opinion that limitations on working time contributed as well to a level playing field amongst 
operators.  More  detailed  views  of  the  consulted  parties  are  included  in  the  accompanying 
document.  

IV. Conclusions 

This report analyses implementation and enforcement developments over a 2013-2014 period 
in  all  Member  States,  in  the  context  of  compliance  with  the  EU  social  rules  in  the  road 
transport sector. 

The  scope  of  this  document  is  set  out  by  Directive  2006/22/EC  and  Commission  Decision 
2009/810/EC  that  define  standard  data  on  Regulation  (EC)  No  561/2006  and  Directive 
2002/15/EC to be submitted; mainly number and type of controls carried out and number and 
types of offences detected. In this reporting period, the quality and timeliness of submissions 
remained comparable to the previous reporting period which enabled the Commission to draw 
conclusions on the application of the road transport social rules at European level.  

The  majority  of  Member  States  complied  with  the  minimum  threshold  of  working  days 
checked required by Directive 2006/22/EC and often exceed it significantly. However, a few 
Member States did not meet this threshold. Moreover, only half of Member States reached the 
threshold  of  the  minimum  number  of  concerted  checks,  which  shows  deterioration  in 
comparison  with  the  previous  period  in  terms  of  the  amount  of  international  initiatives 
undertaken.  Cooperation  takes  place  mostly  between  neighbouring  Member  States  and  is 
complemented by actions within the framework of Euro Contrôle Route (ECR), which puts in 
place collaboration on a bigger scale.  

In order to create a level playing field in the transport sector, there is a need to improve and 
align  the  enforcement  of  transport-related  social  legislation  across  the  EU.  Therefore,  the 
Commission  will  not  only  thoroughly  follow  and  investigate  these  cases  in  order  to  bring 
Member  States  in  compliance  with  the  minimum  requirements  of  the  social  legislation  but 
also envisages taking measures aiming at strengthening the enforcement of the social rules in 
road transport.  

Moreover,  Member  States  failed,  despite  a  slight  improvement,  to  reach  the  threshold  of 
having  at  least  50%  of  the  total  working  days  checked  at  premises  and  the  vast  majority  of 
checks took place at the roadside. The Commission will monitor developments in this field. 
Should there be no improvements observed in the next reporting period in respective Member 
States  the  Commission  will  launch  an  official  enquiry  with  those  Member  States  failing  to 
comply with the requirement for checks at premises. 

17 Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia.  

12 

 
 
                                                            
According  to  Article  2(3)  of  Directive  2006/22/EC,  the  threshold  of  minimum  checks  of 
number of days worked by drivers of vehicles should be raised to 4% once 90% of all vehicles 
checked are equipped with a digital tachograph. In this reporting period 64% vehicles checked 
at roadside were equipped with the digital tachograph. Hence, there is no base for raising the 
minimum threshold of checks to 4% of days worked by drivers.  

It  is  important  for  the  national  authorities  to  guarantee  that  checks  are  being  performed 
without discrimination on the basis of nationality of drivers/Member State of registration of 
vehicles. Member States should thoroughly examine their data and instruct control authorities 
accordingly in order to avoid the unequal treatment of non-nationals.  

The  report  shows  that  certain  improvements  in  the  enforcement  and  implementation  of  the 
legislation on social rules have been observed. The downward trend in the number of offences 
that started from the previous period 2011-2012 was maintained. The overall decrease in the 
number  of  offences  detected  could  be  interpreted  as  an  improved  compliance  with  the 
provisions  of  social  legislation  thanks  to  well-established  enforcement  practices  and  greater 
awareness of social rules among drivers.  

The analysis of detection rates at roadside and at premises indicates that checks at premises 
remain more efficient than ad-hoc roadside controls. Discrepancies in detection rates between 
Member  States  reveal  that  the  European  Union  is  far  from  establishing  a  harmonised 
enforcement  area  because  of  diverging  enforcement  resources  and  practices  in  controlling 
compliance with road transport legislation. 

During this reporting period, the infringement consisting in the manipulation of the recording 
equipment 
techniques, 
equipment,  training  of  control  officers,  etc.  enabling  targeted  controls  and  detecting 
manipulation devices and fraud became more needed than ever. 

increased  noticeably.  Therefore, 

the  appropriate  enforcement 

In view of addressing this issue, and as required by Article 39 of Regulation (EU) 165/2014 
on  tachographs  in  road  transport,  the  Commission  is  preparing  the  implementing  act 
specifying  the  content  of  the  initial  and  continuing  training  of  control  officers,  including 
training  in  relation  to  techniques  to  target  controls  and  to  detect  manipulation  devices  and 
fraud.  Those  measures  will  include  guidelines  to  facilitate  the  implementation  of  the 
provisions  on  driving  times,  breaks  and  rest  periods,  as  well  as  the  implementation  of  the 
provisions on tachographs.  

The national reports on implementation of Directive 2002/15/EC, due to their incompleteness, 
do  not  allow  for  in-depth  analysis  of  impacts  of  this  legislative  act  on  health  and  safety  of 
drivers  or  on  road  safety.  The  inclusion  of  the  self-employed  drivers  in  the  scope  of  the 
working time rules is sometimes perceived as causing enforcement issues. Only ten Member 
States confirmed that stakeholders had been consulted. In general, social partners recognised 
that  appropriate  enforcement  of  Directive  2002/15/EC  is  a  precondition  to  assure  adequate 
working conditions and undistorted competition.  

13 

 
 
 
 
 
This report is published at the same time as the report referred to in Article 26 of Regulation 
(EC)  No  1071/2009  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21  October  2009 
establishing  common  rules  concerning  the  conditions  to  be  complied  with  to  pursue  the 
occupation of road transport operator and repealing Council Directive 96/26/EC18, as required 
by paragraph 2 of that Article.  

18 OJ L 300, 14.11.2009, p. 51. 

14