Regulation of road transport 1976-80
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by R. J. E. Dawson
Head of Road Freight Division, Department of the Environment ALTHOUGH the title of this paper does not include the initials "EEC" inevitably the attempts to arrive at Common Transport Policy will dominate the subject matter. Even where the EEC has not yet adopted a measure in a particular field Member States are obliged by a Council Decision of April 3 1962 to notify the Commission "in good time and in writing" of such measures, and at the same time to inform the other Member States. The objective is the very sensible one of guarding against individual countries going off in different directions and making the task of evolving a common policy even more difficult than it has so far proved. But three Community instruments already adopted will have an impact on road transport in the relevant period. These are : (a) Council Regulation (EEC) No 543/69 on harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport (known 'hereafter in this paper as "the Social Regulation").
(b) Council Regulation (EEC) No 1463/70 on the introduction of recording equipment in road transport (henceforward called the "Tachograph Regulation").
(c) Council Directive 74/561/ EEC on admission to the occupation of road haulage operator in national and international transport operations (described as the "TML Directive" for short).
In addition there is a draft regulation designed to complement the Social Regulation, which may be adopted and come into force during the period under review. This is described as the "draft Second Social Regulation."
The social regulation
The Social Regulation covers much the same ground as Part VI of the Transport Act 1968, i.e, drivers' hours and records. It came into force in the original Six on October 1, 1969, for international operations, and a year later for all operations. Under the Treaty of Accession the new Member States obtained a three-year deferment of its application to their internal transport tions, though it has appl international journeys April 1, 1973.
It is sometimes said whereas Part VI of the Act is concerned sole13, safety, the Social Regula. only designed to help th ways. This is not so. I preamble to the Regt three themes are appart harmonisation of comp between transport r improvement of the ear of work of drivers, anc safety, with by far the gt emphasis on the last tI
Draft second social regulation
The main provisions Regulation are set o Table A, and contrastec the similar provisions i 1968 Act. The only totall feature is the limit of 4: (281 miles) per day for c of single-manned artic vehicles with a gross p sible weight exceedin metric tonnes. This compromise between who wanted such vehic be double-manned at all and those who did not s need for double-manni any time. he Social Regulation does impose limitations on king time and spreadover :he sort contained in the 3 Act, except for the 13r limit implicit in the lirement for an 1I-hour y rest period. This was ignised as a disadvantage was catered for by the t Second Social Regulation. :e the position of this is n misunderstood it should ;tressed that this is still a t, and has not yet been 2ted by the Council. In Ltion to limitations on king it also covers two cts not found in the 1968 L) a minimum of 28 days paid holiday per year ; and )) a ban on systems of payment based on tonnage carried and distance covered.
tachograph regulation
he Tachograph Regulation fires tachographs, to a :icular specification, to be d to virtually all goods idles to which the Social ulation applies. Fitment ted in the Six on January 1, 5, for new vehicles and ;e carrying dangerous Js, and has to be complete January, 1978, for all idles, except that those d with a non-EEC tacho)h -under national legisiacan use these until 1980.
new Member States tined a year's deferment of 1975 date, but nothing else. tachograph replaces the er's log book. Although the tufacturers claim many ant ages for the tachograph a management tool, it is ortant to bear in mind that legislation is only conied with it as an enforceit tool.
rrent position in the ited Kingdom
EC Regulations are directly licable law in Member .es—i.e. they do not require action by the national statures to place them on Statute Book. Thus, unless any change is made to Regulation 543/69 in the meantime, its provisions will automatically replace Part VI, Transport Act, 1968, on January 1, 1976, so far as vehicles within its scope are concerned. But Member States are required by the Regulation to pass supplementary legislation making administrative arrangements and providing for penalties, etc. This was done in 1973 so far as international journeys are concerned, by means of a Statutory Instrument (SI). But the making of an SI is only the tip of the iceberg. The rules have to be publicised and explained, operators and drivers have to plan to adjust their operations to the new rules, which may affect pay and other conditions of service; and the police and DoE enforcement staff have to be trained to apply the new rules. Our experience of this is fairly recent, since the 1968 Act rules came into force 51/2 years ago. This was preceded by nearly 18 months intensive preparation. But by the time the result of the Referendum was known only just over six months remained before the due date. This alone would have made the situation very difficult.
But there was another important factor—a general recognition that the Social Regulation itself was unsatisfactory in a number of important respects, and ought to be re-examined in the light of the five years' experience of its full operation in the Six. This movement stemmed largely from the increasing emphasis on proper enforcement in most of the Six, which in turn stemmed from the increasing use of the tachograph, many Member States having brought forward by national legislation the dates laid down in the Tachograph Regulation. The best known manifestation of this pressure was the action of Dutch drivers in blocking the frontier with Germany. (This has sometimes been described as antitachograph action, but it was in fact a protest against certain features of the Social Regulation — especially the 450 km limit—whose enforcement would be made effective by the use of tachographs).
This action revealed that others of the original Six also wanted some changes, and there is a general recognition among Member States that changes are necessary. But recognition of the need for change is one thing; obtaining agreement of nine governments to the details of those changes is another, especially as there is general agreement that it would be sensible to aim at producing a comprehensive code incorporating the draft Second Social Regulation as well as amendments to the existing Social Regulation. It would be good progress to achieve all this by mid-1977.
As is well known the Government therefore decided to ask for a deferment of the Social Regulation to internal UK traffic. For this to be achieved it will be necessary for the Commission to put forward a proposal in a draft • Regulation, and for the Council of Ministers to adopt it unanimously. (The Council can only act on a Commission proposal). All this will take time, and a further period of uncertainly is unavoidable.
There is no similar pressure to amend the Tachograph Regulation, apart from some very minor measures of interpretation of the specification. But partly because of the Referendum, preparations for implementation in the UK have hardly started, though new vehicles are increasingly being supplied fitted with EEC tachographs as standard original equipment. Arrangements for officially approved stations for calibration and sealing have to be made, and vehicles carrying dangerous goods are supposed to be retrospectively fitted by next January. Subordinate legislation imposing penalties and governing other aspects has to be brought into force. Overshadowing all this is the strong opposition of the trade unions to the instrument, a feature which seems to be unique to this country.
In the circumstances the Government has decided to tell the Commission that the UK will not be able to comply with its obligations under the Tachograph Regulation on January I next. The Commission's response is not yet known. The legal situation differs from that of the Social Regulation, since Government inaction will not leave a legal vacuum, as the UK has no national tachograph legislation in force.
The TML directive
The TML Directive has its origin in a long draft Regulation which the Commission intended to cover almost all aspects of economic regulation of road freight transport, including what we would call capacity control or carriers' licensing. This comprehensive document was making no progress through the Council's legislative machinery, and the Commission therefore plucked out from it the quality licensing features, since these seemed likely to obtain general support. There was inevitably some disagreement on points of detail but in June 1974 the Council of Ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, agreed on the substance of the Directive, which was adopted the following November.
The Directive provides that persons or undertakings entering the hire-or-reward road haulage occupation after January I, 1978 will have to satisfy, in advance, three conditions. They will have to be (a) of good repute (b) of appropriate financial standing; and (c) professionally competent.
The first two criteria are almost identical to the current provisions of '0' licensing, though the second might require Licensing Authorities to devote more attention in future to the financial standing of applicants for '0* licences. The Directive lays down that : "Appropriate financial standing shall consist in having available sufficient resources to ensure the launching and proper administration of the undertaking. Pending co-ordination at a later date, each Member State shall determine what provisions and what methods of furnishing proof may be adopted for this purpose,'.'
The major change stems from the third criterion, which the Directive says : ". . . shall consist in the possession of skills in the subjects listed in the Annex [Table Bj and recognised by the authority or body designated for that purpose by each Member State. The necessary knowledge shall be acquired by attending courses, by practical experience in transport undertaking or by a combination of both. Member States may exempt from the application of these provisions the holders of certain advanced diplomas or technical diplomas implying sound knowledge of the subjects listed in the Annex.
"The production of a certificate 'issued by the authority or body referred to in the preceding sub-paragraph shall constitute proof of professional competence."
This has obvious resem blances to the system of transport managers' licences (TML) provided for in Section 65 and Schedule 9, Transport Act 1968, but so far unimplemented, especially as the Directive, like the Act, envis ages disciplinary action. Nevertheless there is a difference of emphasis. The Directive only applies to hireor-reward operators, although this does not prevent Member States from applying it more widely if they wish. However, the subjects in Table B are concerned not only with road safety matters, but also to a small extent with what might be called the commercial competence of the operator towards his customers which would obviously be irrelevant to an own-account operator. The DOE is currently consulting both sides of the industry and the professional institutes on how the Directive shall be implemented in the UK, but it seems likely that the question of possible restoration of the statutory distinction between hire-or-reward and ownaccount operators will be one of the most important aspects of this consultation, though other aspects will certainly not be overlooked.
The Directive provides what are known as "grandfather rights," so that those already in the occupation beflore January 1, 1978 will he exempt from the need to furnish proof that they comply with the first two criteria. In this country, of course, they would already have complied with the first two in getting their "0" licences. But those who enter on or ater January 1, 1975 will have to satisfy the professional competence requirement by January -1, 1980.
Other measures
(The latest position on vehicle weights and dimensions, taxation, hgv driver licensing, capacity control, tariffs, and international journeys is being dealt with verbally in the conference itself, and Will be reported in next week's issue.)