France takes up issue of black boxes
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• France is aiming to use its influence in its presidency of the European Union to delay discussion and so kill off a proposal to fit black boxes to tachographs in LGVs. A wellplaced French diplomat said in Brussels this week: "We'd rather take our time and adopt a fool-proof system".
France opposes the current proposal which would consist of coupling existing tachographs with electronic black boxes on all trucks by 2000. The Paris administration—together with the Netherlands, Italy and Spain—would rather "wait between six and 18 months until fully electronic devices are available", while Germany and the UK are in favour of the dual system.
Any delay in the plan to marry black boxes to tachographs is a further blow to German hopes: last month it emerged that the European Parliament and Brussels lobbyists were gathering opposition to the plan (CM 1-7 December).
The French are confident they are close to victory. The French diplomat says: All it takes is convincing Germany that mandatory electronic black boxes would not be bad for Kienzle, the German manufacturer which dominates the tachograph market".
France is planning to hold the first formal discussion on black boxes at the EU Transport Council on 20 and 21 June in Luxembourg.