• European Union transport ministers have admitted they are powerless to enforce haulage operating standards on East
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European governments, despite an agreement designed to bring them into line with EU countries.
Transport ministers from former Eastern Bloc countries including Russia, Georgia and Bulgaria signed up to "pan-European eligibility criteria" for the haulage industry at their council meeting in Prague at the end of May.
The ministers ruled that to operate as international hauliers companies required licencesthat should only be granted if they are of good repute with adequate financial standing and meet acceptable standards of professional competence. But Jack Short, deputy secretary-general of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, says: "Although this is a formal resolution of the ECMT, it only provides guidance and is not binding. It is up to the individual states to put this in place."