1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202 
Countdown to tachograph time
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
There is still scepticism over the January deadline for digital smart-cards Brian Weatherley reports
With the EC transport ministerJacquesBarrot reaffirming last week that digital smart-card tachographs will be in place from I January 2006, the industry will have to be prepared for the shift.
He also issued a stark warning to countries that do not enforce the new rules or want the introduction date pushed back even further: "If somebody doesn't respect it [the January date] I will punish them?However, the industry has reacted with scepticism to his comments.
James Hookham,FreightTransport Association deputy chief executive, says that even with the EC's legislative machine working in overdrive the rules are unlikely to be in place through publication in the EC's Official Journal of Economic Proceedings (Ojec) before next April at the earliest.
Hookham expects that rather than agree a firm date for the introduction of smart-card tachos now, the UK's Department for Transport is more likely to implement the regs after a set time has elapsed following their publication in Ojec. Summer 2006 looks increasingly likely as the official starting point in the UK for smart-card tachos, although Hook harn still believes the Commission should have spent longer looking at the changes from the operator's perspective.
"The problem is people in the Commission seem to think that once they've been fitted to a truck that's it -but the poor old operator has got to get his head around it in terms of using it, and back-office systems and hours analysis. This is where it will be made or brokenthis is driver hours we're talking about and no operator can afford to screw it up as they'll end up in front of the TC. So if they can give a sensible date where we can start -say sometime between May and August then everyone can work back from that and avoid a stampede down to the DVLA at Swansea for cards."
Nick Rendell,UK chief executive of smart-card tacho manufacturer Siemens VDO.believes the UK will take a typically pragmatic view."As I understand it the decision has still to he ratified [by the] Council of European Ministers but the bottom fine is that the UK will enforce it when it is enforceable."
The first smart-card units have already appeared in trucks sold in the UK. According to Rendell: "It's probably in the low hundreds it's certainly more than tens as some people have put them in as an option and they've turned up."
The DVLA says it has already sent out some 80,000 driver and company smart-card application packs since July (see box). The packs have gone to testing stations and local DVLA offices as well as individuals. •
• See Telematics, page 42