COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Ex-post evaluation of the social legislation in road transport: Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on driving times, breaks and rest periods of drivers, Directive 2002/15/EC on the working time of road transport mobile workers and Directive 2006/22/EC on enforcement requirements. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as regards on minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and Regulation (EU) 165/2014 as regards positioning by means of tachographs and Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2006/22/EC as regards enforcement requirements and laying down specific rules with respect to Directive 96/71/EC and Directive 2014/67/EU for posting drivers in the road transport sector
Date: 2017-05-31
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, carrier, digital technology, drivers, driving period, rest period, road transport, speed control, working conditions

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   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 31.5.2017  SWD(2017) 185 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Ex-post evaluation of the social legislation in road transport: Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on driving times, breaks and rest periods of drivers, Directive 2002/15/EC on the working time of road transport mobile workers and Directive 2006/22/EC on enforcement requirements.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as regards on minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and Regulation (EU) 165/2014 as regards positioning by means of tachographs  and   Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2006/22/EC as regards enforcement requirements and laying down specific rules with respect to Directive 96/71/EC and Directive 2014/67/EU for posting drivers in the road transport sector {COM(2017) 277 final} {COM(2017) 278 final} {SWD(2017) 184 final} {SWD(2017) 186 final} {SWD(2017) 187 final}  
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The EU framework of social rules in road transport has been developed gradually since 1969, 
when the first EU provisions on driving times and rest periods were established1. The existing 
social rules in road transport are set in two main legislative acts2: 

1) Regulation (EC) 561/2006 (also known as the Driving Time Regulation)  establishes the 
minimum requirements on daily and weekly driving times, breaks and daily and weekly rest 
periods to be observed by drivers and road transport operators. 

2) Directive 2002/15/EC (also known as the Road Transport Working Time Directive) lays 
down rules on the organisation of the working time of drivers.  

The minimum requirements for enforcement of the provisions of the Driving Time Regulation 
are in: 

1)  Directive  2006/22/EC  (also  known  as  the  Enforcement  Directive),  which  establishes 
minimum levels of roadside checks and controls at the premises of transport undertakings to 
be carried out every year by Member States.  

2)  Regulation  (EU)  No  165/2014  (also  known  as  the  Tachograph  Regulation),  which  sets 
the requirements on the installation and the use of tachographs in the vehicles in scope of the 
Driving  Time  Regulation.  The  tachograph  serves  as  the  main  tool  for  monitoring  and 
controlling compliance with the provisions of that Regulation.  

Since  the  adoption  of  the  social  rules  and  the  mechanisms  for  their  enforcement,  the  social 
and  business  environment  of  the  road  transport  sector  has  changed  significantly.  This  is 
mainly due to the EU enlargements in 2004 and 2010 and the economic downturn in 2007-
2008  as  well  as  the  Eurozone  crisis  that  started  in  2009.  The  increasingly  fierce  cost-based 
competition  creating  downward  pressures  on  profits  and  wages  leads  to  suspicious 
employment practices and complex business models that may affect the protection of rights 
and  social  conditions  of  workers,  the  level  playing  field  for  operators  and  road  safety.  This 
has  also  given  rise  to  the  adoption  of  unilateral  national  measures  based  on  national 
interpretations of the common EU rules or benefitting from their deficiencies.  

These challenges hamper the achievement of a fair, efficient and socially responsible internal 
market.  

The  ex-post  evaluation  of  the  Commission  confirmed  that  the  social  legislations  remain  an 
appropriate legal framework. However, they were only partially successful in achieving a fair 
level playing field, mainly due to diverging national interpretations and implementation of the 
rules, inconsistent and ineffective enforcement practices as well as certain deficiencies of the 
legal  provisions,  which  cannot  not  address  the  new  risks  arising  from  the  market  and  the 
sector.  

These  unaddressed  risks  are:  complex  employment  arrangements  (usually  characterised  by 
multiple  employers  and/or  long  subcontracting  chains),  drivers'  long  periods  away  from 
home/base, time pressure and stress related to the performance-based payments, applying the 
terms  and  conditions  of  employment  of  the  Members  States  with  lower  labour  and  social 
protection standards. While the current social rules remain relevant, they are not sufficient to 
effectively address new risks which go beyond the current social rules. A holistic approach is 
hence required whereby the social, internal market and posting of workers rules work better 
together  to  ensure  the  balance  between  working  conditions  of  workers  and  fair  competition 
between operators.   

1 OJ L 77, 29.3.1969, p. 49–60 

2 The overview of main provisions of the relevant legal acts is in Annex 10 

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A number of shortcomings in the current social legislation have been identified which hamper 
its effectiveness. One of them is a lacking clarity of certain provisions (e.g. the regular weekly 
rest and whether it can be taken within the vehicle, how to record a driver's activities when 
away  from  the  vehicle).    Unclear  rules  lead  to  diverging  national  interpretations  and 
enforcement  practices,  which  results  in  unequal  treatment  of  drivers  and  operators  during 
checks in different Member States and creates legal uncertainty for drivers, operators and for 
enforcers.  

Another  major  shortcoming  is  flexibility  in  the  application  of  the  rules  in  force.  Flexibility 
should be given to take into account the character of certain specific transport operations or 
external circumstances in which they are carried out, but at the same time should not disturb 
the level playing field.   

The enforcement measures are only partially effective due to different control practices based 
on  diverging  national  interpretations  of  the  rules,  differences  in  the  use  of  control  tools,  as 
well  as  differences  in  types  and  levels  of  national  penalties.  In  addition,  insufficient 
administrative  cooperation  between  the  national  enforcement  authorities  renders  the  cross-
border enforcement more difficult and less efficient. 

Even  though  the  impact  of  the  social  legislation  on  road  safety  is  impossible  to  discern  all 
stakeholder groups perceived it as having a positive effect.  

The  benefits  of  the  social  legislation  would  have  outweighed  the  administrative  costs  borne 
by  Member  States  if  the  available  enforcement  tools  and  data  exchange  systems  had  been 
better  exploited  leading  to  more  cost-effective  cross  border  enforcement.  The  compliance 
costs  for  operators  and  for  drivers  is  difficult  to  weigh  against  the  benefits  which  remain 
subjective (some aspects of working conditions, health and safety of drivers, fair competition) 
and/or difficult to discern and quantify (road safety). 

The social legislation is generally coherent with other road transport provisions, but in light of 
new  social  challenges  arising  it  should  seek  more  consistency  and  coordination  with  the 
internal market rules on access to profession3, access to international haulage market4 and on 
the posting of workers5.   

The social legislation provides the EU added value but its full potential has not been reached 
so far, due to the weak and inconsistent enforcement and diverging national implementation. 
None of those problems though call into question the importance of the substantive principles 
and provisions, which the social legislation established. 

Based on the analysis above, the evaluation concludes that the road transport social legislation 
has  only  partly  met  its  original  objectives.  There  are  significant  shortcomings  and 
ambiguities, which are in part responsible for their ineffective and inconsistent  enforcement 
and which contribute to persistent and newly arising social challenges in the sector.  

3 OJ L 300, 14.11.2009, p. 51–71 

4 OJ L 300, 14.11.2009, p. 72–87 

5 OJ L 18, 21.1.1997, p. 1–6 

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