Community transport law: how UK operators will be affected
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• The full EEC regulation on drivers' hours and records is spelt out in a book just published by HM Stationery office, a volume that gives for the first time in English the official text of the EEC's secondary legislation. The 293-page book is entitled European Communities Secondary Legislation; English Text. Part 13: Transport, and it costs £4.50 net from HMSO.
As an original source for much legislation that will affect domestic as well as international operations of UK hauliers and own account operators, it is a volume that transport managers would do well to obtain and study.
Among the subjects covered by regulations. directives or recommendations in the book are tachographs; the standardization of rules for duty-free admission of fuel in road vehicles; the abolition of discrimination in transport rates: the introduction of common rules for international road passenger transport; tariff agreements for coal and steel traffic; consultation procedures on transport legislation proposals; the establishment of an advisory committee on social questions in transport; and a number of matters affecting railways, infrastructures, and grant aid for transport.
The book states when each regulation will apply in Britain, both for national and international transport.
No discrimination Taking effect on British operators on October 1 1973, nine months after our accession to the EEC, will be Council Regulation 11 (June 1960), aimed at abolishing rates discrimination. It will prohibit carriers from applying different rates and conditions on the grounds of the country of origin or destination.
This prohibition will not affect the validity of private law contracts.
To enable this regulation to be enforced, carriers will have to have available for inspection by EEC officials the consignment note details of the goods carried, the consignor and consignee; and the copy to be kept by the operator (for at least two years) will have to show the final rates charged. This documentary requirement will not apply to single consignments not exceeding 5 metric tons, to domestic transport on a journey not exceeding 100km or to carriage between member states on a journey not exceeding 30km.
Standard waybills EEC Council Regulation 117/66 sets out the common rules for international road passenger services. It specifics the different requirements of, for example, regular stage services, works and school services, shuttle services and tours. Linked to this regulation is EEC Regualtion 1016/68 which prescribes in great detail the control documents (eg books of standard waybills) Which will be required for the international road passenger services.
Both 117/66 and 1016 /68 will take effect in the UK on July 11973.
Driving limits Probably the most important and widely applicable section in the book is EEC Council Regulation 543 /69, which sets out the hours and conditions for road transport workers. This will take effect in Britain on January 1 1976 but for international journeys will apply from April 11973.
Basic changes from the present UK drivers' hours rules are confirmed by the opening section on definitions. For instance, in the EEC a week means "any period of seven consecutive days" which will supersede the present Transport Act definition of a working week, at least for those vehicles covered by the EEC legislation. Also, daily rest period in EEC terms means "Any uninterrupted period of at least eight hours during which the crew members may freely dispose of their time and are entirely free to move about as they please". (The actual rest periods specified are in most cases more than eight hours, as explained later.) The hours and records regulations will not apply to the following: Vehicles intended for not more than nine persons including the driver; goods vehicles not exceeding 3.5 metric tons maximum permitted weight including any trailer or semi-trailer; stage carriage passenger vehicles on routes not exceeding 50km; service vehicles used by armed forces, public utilities and similar public authorities; vehicles used to carry sick or injured people or rescue material; special breakdown vehicles; and road tractors with a maximum authorized speed not exceeding 30 kph.
Drivers of rigid or articulated goods vehicles not exceeding 7.5 metric tons gross weight must be at least 18 years' old. For other vehicles the minimum age is 21—except that 18-year-olds may drive the heavier vehicles if they hold a certificate of competence recognized by a member State and issued after successful completion of a training course.
For passenger vehicles the general minimum age is 21, and the regulation lays down the experience or training which psv drivers must have.
For drivers of all the vehicles covered by the regulation the maximum period of continuous driving, without a break, is four hours and the total daily driving time may not exceed eight hours; weekly driving time is 48 hours, and no driver may drive for more than 92 hours in any two consecutive weeks, Except for drivers of the bigger vehicles (dealt with below) the daily limit may be extended to nine hours driving on two days in any week.
Drivers of arties or lorry-and-trailer combinations which exceed 20 metric tons gross weight may only drive 450km (280 miles) in any period between two
consecutive rest periods. This rule applies also to motor vehicles with more than one trailer and to passenger-carrying artics or combinations where the trailer or semi-trailer exceeds 5 metric tons gross weight. These heavier vehicles are not permitted the driving concession of occasional nine-hour days.
In general, goods vehicle drivers will be required to take 11 hours rest between working periods, but this may be reduced to nine hours twice a week, or eight hours twice a week if the rest is taken away from the place at which the vehicle, is based.
Psv drivers must, in general, have a 10-hour rest period before any duty period, but there are concessions which enable the rest periods to be varied to • allow operational flexibility.
This regulation also sets out the style and content of the drivers' record sheets—on the now-familiar AETR diagrammatic lines.
Regulation 1107 /70 is concerned with the terms and conditions upon which grants may be made for supporting transport services by rail, road and inland waterway.
Tachographs The introduction of tachographs is dealt with in Regulation 1463 /70, and not only prescribes how these devices shall be used but also, in great technical detail, the form and construction of them. It is laid down that transport operators will have to retain the tachograph discs for at least one year.
January 1 1976 is the date when tachographs will have to be fitted on new vehicles in Britain, and on vehicles carrying dangerous goods. Other (existing) vehicles will have to comply by January 11978.