Eurospeed Ltd v Szegedi Törvényszék.
Date: 2016-06-09
32


It is therefore clear from the wording of that provision that Regulation No 561/2006 makes both transport undertakings and drivers subject to specific obligations and holds them both liable for infringements of their respective obligations.
33


In this respect, contrary to the referring court’s suggestion, it cannot be concluded that Article 19(2) of Regulation No 561/2006 refers solely to the case of an infringement being committed on the territory of another Member State. Since the first sentence of Article 19(2) of the regulation expressly provides that the possibility of the competent authorities of a Member State imposing a penalty on an undertaking and/or a driver for an infringement of the regulation exists ‘even where that infringement has been committed on the territory of another Member State or of a third country’, that implies a contrario that a Member State is in any event entitled to impose a penalty either on an undertaking or on a driver or on both for an infringement committed on its territory. Contrary to the interpretation adopted by the referring court, the fact that that provision extends the possibility of imposing penalties to infringements of Regulation No 561/2006 committed outside the territory of the Member State concerned cannot be interpreted as restricting the infringements capable of being penalised to those committed on the territory of another State.
34


That interpretation is borne out in particular by recital 27 of Regulation No 561/2006, according to which it is desirable in the interests of clear and effective enforcement to ensure uniform provisions on the liability of transport undertakings and drivers for infringements of the regulation, and this liability may result in penal, civil or administrative penalties, as the case may be, in the Member States. It is clear unequivocally from the wording of that recital that the Member States are entitled to lay down a system of liability of drivers for infringements of the regulation, and that they have a broad discretion as regards the nature of the applicable penalties.
35


Similarly, recital 31 of Regulation No 561/2006 stated that Regulation No 3821/85 should be amended to clarify specific obligations on transport undertakings and drivers as well as to promote legal certainty and to facilitate enforcement of driving time and rest period limits during roadside checks. The wording of that recital shows that Regulation No 561/2006, which moreover amends Regulation No 3821/85, is aimed in particular at drivers with respect to the obligations they must comply with under the latter regulation. In so far as, first, the Member States are required pursuant to Article 19(1) of Regulation No 561/2006 to lay down rules on penalties for infringements of that regulation in such a way that those penalties are effective, proportionate, dissuasive and non-discriminatory, and, second, the regulation does not exclude the liability of drivers, it follows that the Member States can lay down provisions allowing penalties to be imposed, exclusively or otherwise, on drivers.
38


In the third place, as regards recital 17 of Regulation No 561/2006, it suffices to state, first, that while one of the aims of the regulation is indeed to improve the working conditions of employees in the road transport sector (see, to that effect, judgments of 3 October 2013 in Lundberg, C‑317/12, EU:C:2013:631, paragraph 31, and 13 March 2014 in A. Karuse, C‑222/12, EU:C:2014:142, paragraph 29), there is no reason to suppose that the EU legislature intended to free drivers from all liability for the infringements they commit, in particular where the infringements relate exclusively to the performance of their work.
39


It must be noted, second, that Regulation No 561/2006 also pursues the objective of improving general road safety. The two objectives of the regulation — improving working conditions and improving road safety — are thus both reflected in the obligation in principle to fit vehicles used in road transport with approved recording equipment making it possible to monitor compliance with drivers’ driving times and rest periods. An interpretation of that regulation as excluding the possibility of imposing penalties on drivers to punish infringements by them of their obligations under the regulation would obstruct the achievement of the objective of improving road safety generally.