Article 11 Revision of the Directive
Without prejudice to the provisions laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 12(1), the Commission shall, by 7 November 2016, submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the application of this Directive by the Member States. In its report, the Commission shall focus in particular on, and shall, as appropriate, make proposals to cover, the following aspects: — an assessment of whether other road-safety-related traffic offences should be added to the scope of this Directive, — an assessment of the effectiveness of this Directive on the reduction in the number of fatalities on Union roads, — an assessment of the need for developing common standards for automatic checking equipment and for procedures. In this context, the Commission is invited to develop at Union level road safety guidelines within the framework of the common transport policy in order to ensure greater convergence of the enforcement of road traffic rules by Member States through comparable methods and practices. These guidelines may cover at least the offences listed in points (a) to (d) of Article 2, — an assessment of the need to strengthen the enforcement of sanctions with regard to road-safety-related traffic offences and to propose common criteria concerning the follow-up procedures in the case of non-payment of a financial penalty, within the framework of all relevant Union policies, including the common transport policy, — the possibilities for harmonising traffic rules where appropriate, — an assessment of the software applications as referred to in Article 4(4), with a view to ensuring proper implementation of this Directive as well as guaranteeing an effective, expeditious, secure and confidential exchange of specific VRD.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal This explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a directive amending Directive (EU) 2015/413 on facilitating cross-border exchange of information on road-safety-related traffic offences 1 (hereinafter “the CBE Directive”). Road safety in the EU has improved quite significantly over the last 20 years. The number of road fatalities has gone down by 61.5% from around 51,400 in 2001 to around 19,800 in 2021. Nevertheless, the improvement in road safety has not been strong enough to meet the EU’s political ambition to decrease the number of road deaths by 50% between 2001 and 2010, and by additional 50% between 2011 and 2020 (i.e. by 75% between 2001 and 2020) stemming from a number of strategic documents issued by the Commission over the last two decades, such as the White Paper on European Transport Policy for 2010 2 , or the Communication from the Commission on Towards a European road safety area: policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020 3 . The reported number of some 18,800 road deaths in 2020 was still well above the target value, despite an impressive annual reduction of more than 17% below the corresponding number of road deaths for 2019 that was however heavily influenced by an unprecedented drop in road traffic volumes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic 4 . In the years before 2020, there was hardly any drop in the number of road fatalities. Th is slowdown , that already appeared around 2014 , prompted the transport ministers of the EU to issue a ministerial declaration on road safety at the informal transport Council in Valletta in March 2017 5 . In that declaration, the Member States called upon the Commission to explore the strengthening of the Union’s road safety legal framework to reverse that stagnating trend. In June 2019, the Commission published the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030 – Next steps towards “Vision Zero” 6 . In it, the Commission proposed new interim targets for reducing the number of road deaths and serious injuries by 50% between 2020 and 2030, as recommended in the Valletta Declaration. The Commission based that policy framework on the so-called “Safe System approach” that considers death and serious injury in road collisions as largely preventable , though collisions will continue to occur. The cross-border enforcement of road-safety-related traffic offences is one of the main pillars of the system as it reduces the impunity of foreign drivers. The Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy 7 of 2020 set the milestone of reducing the death toll for all modes of transport in the EU to close to zero by 2050 and announced the revision of the CBE Directive under Flagship 10 “Enhancing transport safety and security” . Subsequently, this initiative was inserted in Annex II to the Commission Work Programme 2022 (REFIT initiatives), under the heading ‘ A New Push for European Democracy’ 8 . Importantly , the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030 9 in October 2021. While the Parliament acknowledges the progress made, it called on the Commission to review the CBE Directive, as the existing framework “(…) does not adequately ensure investigation of the offences in order to enforce penalties (…)” . This initiative builds on the current CBE Directive which has (1) established the electronic exchange of vehicle registration data between Member States through designated national contact points, which helps to identify the owner/holder of the vehicle registered abroad with which the offence has been committed ; (2) specified the European Vehicle and Driving Licence Information System (Eucaris) as the preferred IT platform for the electronic exchange of vehicle registration data ; (3) been predominantly applied in practice to cross-border cases where the offences are detected remotely with automatic or manual detection equipment, mostly cameras (i.e. without stopping the vehicle and/or identification of the driver on the spot) ; (4) covered eight road-safety-related traffic offences: speeding, failing to use a seat belt, failing to stop at a red traffic light, drink-driving, driving while under the influence of drugs, failing to wear a safety helmet, the use of a forbidden lane and illegally using a mobile phone or any other communication devices while driving ; (5) determined the way in which the offence should be communicated to the person concerned, including the language regime – it also provide d a (non-obligatory) template for the information letter to be sent ; (6) raised the awareness of citizens by requiring Member States to inform the Commission of road safety traffic rules in force and make them available on a website in all official languages 10 . The accompanying impact assessment 11 to the first proposal for the CBE Directive of 2008 estimated that non-resident drivers accounted for about 5% of road traffic in the EU (in terms of vehicle-km) but that they committed around 15% of speeding offences. Hence, they are relatively more likely to commit speeding offences than resident drivers. One of the identified reasons for that was that non-residents perceived that they were less likely to be sanctioned when driving in a Member State where they did not reside and that they were less likely to face judicial action if they did not pay fines imposed by foreign authorities. While the current CBE Directive contributed to removing the anonymity of foreign offenders by impressively increasing the number of investigated cross-border cases, it has also proven its limitations since its deterren t effect was not sufficient to remove the offenders’ impunity . This initiative aims at further enhancing road safety by extending the scope of the CBE Directive to other road-safety-related traffic offences and streamlining (i.e. simplifying, digitising and refining) the investigation of road-safety-related traffic offences committed abroad, thus facilitating the cross-border enforcement of sanctions. It also aims to improve the protection of fundamental rights of non-resident drivers. The objectives to unlock the full potential of the Directive are to: 1. Increase compliance of non-resident drivers with additional road-safety-related traffic rules : Dangerous behaviour plays a role in a high number of road fatalities and serious injuries. Preventing such dangerous behaviour through extending the scope of the CBE Directive to other road-safety-related offences and thus reducing impunity is key. When Member States cannot effectively penalise offenders from other Member States to ensure equal treatment of resident and non-resident drivers, this seriously reduces the credibility of the enforcement efforts. 2. Streamline mutual assistance procedures between Member States in the cross-border investigation of road-safety-related traffic offences: The evaluation of the CBE Directive of 2016 12 identified the following main reasons preventing justice from being applied to non-resident offenders: (1) around half of detected road traffic offences committed by non-residents was not investigated; (2) around half of the financial penalties for those road traffic offences that had been investigated were not successfully enforced; (3) almost all offences where offenders refused to pay financial penalties were not enforced - the successfully enforced penalties were essentially due to voluntary payments. The main reason s for the identified shortcomings w ere cumbersome, time consuming and therefore lacking mutual assi s tance and cooperation between Member States in investigating road-safety-related traffic offences and deficiencies in the enforcement of sanctions after exchanging vehicle registration data, especially where different legal liability regimes apply. 3. Strengthen the protection of fundamental rights of non-resident offenders, including alignment with new EU rules on personal data protection : The Commission received a number of citizens' complaints on the (lack of) respect of

EUROPEAN COMMISSIONBrussels, 1.3.2023COM(2023) 126 final2023/0052(COD)Proposal for aDIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCILamending Directive (EU) 2015/413 facilitating cross-border exchange of information on road-safety-related traffic offences(Text with EEA relevance){SEC(2023) 351 final} - {SWD(2023) 126 final} - {SWD(2023) 127 final}EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL•Reasons for and objectives of the proposalThis explanatory memorandum accompanies the proposal for a directiveamending Directive (EU) 2015/413 on facilitating cross-border exchange of information on road-safety-related traffic offences1(hereinafter “the CBE Directive”).Road safety in the EU has improved quite significantly over the last 20 years. The number of road fatalities has gone down by 61.5% from around 51,400 in 2001 to around 19,800 in 2021. Nevertheless, the improvement in road safety has not been strong enough to meet the EU’s political ambition to decrease the number of road deaths by 50% between 2001 and 2010, and by additional 50% between 2011 and 2020 (i.e. by 75% between 2001 and 2020) stemming from a number of strategic documents issued by the Commission over the last two decades, such as theWhite Paper on European Transport Policy for 20102, or the Communication from the Commission onTowards a European road safety area: policy orientations on road safety 2011-20203. The reported number of some 18,800 road deaths in 2020 was still well above the target value, despite an impressive annual reduction of more than 17% below the corresponding number of road deaths for 2019that was howeverheavilyinfluenced by an unprecedented drop in road traffic volumes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic4.In the years before 2020, there was hardly any drop in the number of road fatalities.Thisslowdown,that already appeared around 2014,prompted the transport ministers of the EU to issue a ministerial declaration on road safety at the informal transport Council in Valletta in March 20175. In that declaration, the Member States called upon the Commission to explore the strengthening of the Union’s road safety legal framework to reverse that stagnating trend.In June 2019, the Commission published theEU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030 – Next steps towards “Vision Zero”6. In it, the Commission proposed new interim targets for reducing the number of road deaths and serious injuries by 50% between 2020 and 2030, as recommended in the Valletta Declaration. The Commission based that policy framework on the so-called “Safe System approach” that considers death and serious injury in road collisions as largely preventable,though collisions will continue to occur. The cross-border enforcement of road-safety-related traffic offences is one of the main pillars of the system as it reduces the impunity of foreign drivers. TheSustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy7of 2020 setthe milestone ofreducingthe death toll for all modes of transport in the EUtoclose to zero by 2050 and announced the revision of the CBE Directive under Flagship 10“Enhancing transport safety and security”. Subsequently, this initiativewas inserted inAnnex II to the Commission Work Programme 2022 (REFIT initiatives), under the heading‘A New Push for European Democracy’8.Importantly, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-20309in October 2021. While the Parliament acknowledges the progress made, it called on the Commission to review the CBE Directive, as the existing framework“(…) does not adequately ensure investigation of the offences in order to enforce penalties (…)”.This initiative builds onthe currentCBEDirectivewhichhas (1)establishedtheelectronic exchange of vehicle registration data between Member States through designated national contact points, which helps to identify the owner/holder of the vehicle registered abroad with which the offence has been committed; (2)specifiedthe European Vehicle and Driving Licence Information System (Eucaris) as the preferred IT platform for the electronic exchange of vehicle registration data; (3) been predominantlyapplied in practice to cross-border cases where the offences are detected remotely with automatic or manual detection equipment, mostly cameras (i.e. without stopping the vehicle and/or identification of the driver on the spot);(4) covered eight road-safety-related traffic offences: speeding, failing to use a seat belt, failing to stop at a red traffic light, drink-driving, driving while under the influence of drugs, failing to wear a safety helmet, the use of a forbidden lane and illegally using a mobile phone or any other communication devices while driving; (5)determined the way in which the offence should be communicated to the person concerned, including the language regime– it alsoprovideda (non-obligatory) template for the information letter to be sent; (6)raised the awareness of citizens by requiring Member States to inform the Commission of road safety traffic rules in force and make them available on a website in all official languages10.The accompanying impact assessment11to the first proposal for the CBE Directive of 2008 estimated that non-resident drivers accounted for about 5% of road traffic in the EU (in terms of vehicle-km) but that they committed around 15% of speeding offences. Hence, they are relatively more likely to commit speeding offences than resident drivers.One of the identified reasons for that was that non-residents perceived that they were less likely to be sanctioned when driving in a Member State where they did not reside and that they were less likely to face judicial action if they did not pay fines imposed by foreign authorities.While the current CBE Directivecontributed to removing theanonymityof foreign offenders byimpressivelyincreasing the number of investigated cross-border cases, ithas also proven its limitations since itsdeterrenteffect was not sufficient to remove the offenders’impunity.This initiative aims at further enhancing road safety by extending the scope of the CBE Directive to other road-safety-related traffic offences and streamlining (i.e. simplifying, digitising and refining) the investigation of road-safety-related traffic offences committed abroad, thus facilitating the cross-border enforcement of sanctions. It also aims to improve the protection of fundamental rights of non-resident drivers. The objectives to unlock the full potential of the Directive are to:1.Increase compliance of non-resident drivers with additional road-safety-related traffic rules: Dangerous behaviour plays a role in a high number of road fatalities and serious injuries. Preventing such dangerous behaviour through extending the scope of theCBE Directiveto other road-safety-related offences and thus reducing impunity is key. When Member States cannot effectively penalise offenders from other Member States to ensure equal treatment of resident and non-resident drivers, this seriously reducesthecredibility of the enforcement efforts.2.Streamline mutual assistance procedures between Member States inthecross-border investigation of road-safety-related traffic offences: The evaluation of the CBE Directiveof201612identified the following main reasons preventing justice from being applied to non-resident offenders: (1) around half of detected road traffic offences committed by non-residents was not investigated; (2) around half of the financial penalties for those road traffic offences that had been investigated were not successfully enforced; (3) almost all offences where offenders refused to pay financial penalties were not enforced - the successfully enforced penalties were essentially due to voluntary payments. The mainreasonsfor the identified shortcomingswerecumbersome, time consumingand therefore lacking mutual assistance andcooperation between Member States in investigating road-safety-related traffic offences anddeficienciesin theenforcement of sanctions after exchanging vehicle registration data, especially where different legal liability regimes apply.3.Strengthen theprotection of fundamental rights of non-resident offenders, including alignment with new EU rules on personal data protection: The Commission received a number of citizens' complaints on the(lack of)respectoffundamental rights, especiallyas regardsappeals against allegedly committed road traffic offences abroad (in particular arguing about missing or unclear information on appeal procedures), missing evidence, different deadlines for non-residents and residents regarding the delivery of penalty notices/information letters, inadequate service of documents, including missing translations and problems to access specific information regarding committed offences andways tosettle financial penalties. Last, but not least, the proposal ensuresalignment with new EU law concerning personal data protection13, which was adopted in the meantime.More detailed information on how the above objectives and related problems are addressed by the initiative is presented in Chapter 3 of this explanatory memorandum.To ensure a consistent approach in cross-border enforcement of road traffic rules, a negotiating package is established, whichconsists of threeinitiatives – besides thisproposal for a directive amending the CBE Directive, it also contains a proposal for anew driving licence directive (replacingDirective 2006/126/EC on driving licences14(the‘Driving Licence Directive’))and a proposal for a new Directiveof the European Parliament and of the Councilon the Union-wide effect of certain driving disqualifications.
Article 12 Transposition
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 6 May 2015. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions. When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, the Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland may postpone the deadline referred to in the first subparagraph until 6 May 2017. 2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
Article 13 Entry into force
This Directive shall enter into force on the fourth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Article 14 Addressees
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.