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EU gives 16-month reprieve on 'Lithos
Page 6
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The EU has finally accepted that digital smart-card tachos have missed their August launch date. Peter Shakespeare reports.
THE UNCERTAINTY over the launch of digital smart-card tachographs finally seems to have been resolved after frantic lobbying from the trade associations as the deadline for their introduction loomed.
Early next month the Department for Transport is expected to release details of a European Union "memorandum of understanding" that will effectively delay the enforcement date for 16 months from the date of type approval of the first digital tacho unit.
Under the existing legislation all new trucks should be fitted with digital tachos from 5 August this year, but unit type approval is not expected until May at the earliest. It will take at least four months to complete "interoperability testing" of member nations' smart cards, and the vehicle manufacturers will need time to establish supplies, fit the units and conduct dealer and operator training. This all combines to make the August 2004 deadline unachievable.
Iveco technical director Ken Moore says: "We understand that the agreement will delay enforcement, and that is excellent news for manufacturers and operators. The only sticking point is getting universal agreement from all EU member states. "Even if there is opposition froi abroad, we believe the DfT wil look after our domestic interests."
Moore predicts that digital tacho will not be compulsory before Ma 2005, but even that will be an extra headache for operators coping wit the Working Time Directive tha comes into force in May 2005.
The Freight Transport Asso ciation has reacted to the new less enthusiastically. Chief execu tive Richard Turner says: "It's complete farce that we have got tc the stage where member states arc trying to come up with a privatt agreement among themselve! because the governing authorit3 won't amend the regulations."