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THE HISTORY of the international road haulage permit in the United Kingdom has been short but varied. Far from being superfluous pieces of officialdom, permits have become central to many international hauliers' businesses and couldn't be more valuable if printed on £20 notes.
The UK's first international road haulage agreement came into force in 1967. It was with West Germany and was of the bilateral type — the permits issued allowed journeys purely to or through the two countries concerned.
In the following years more and more bilateral agreements were negotiated, mostly in the form of government treaties, and now the UK has international road haulage agreements with 24 European countries from Norway to Greece and from Spain to Turkey.
Contrary to popular belief, most of these agreements do not seek to restrict international road haulage between the countries. In fact, of the 24 agreements 12 are primarily co operation statements which allow UK hauliers to run to or through the country without hindrance and without the need for any form of permit (and similarly allow the foreign hauliers the same facilities in the UK).
These agreements which do exactly the opposite of restric ting haulage traffic are between the UK and Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, East Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, 'Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
In addition to these, two other countries, Czechoslovakia and Finland (the latter since this June) issue permits but in virtually unlimited numbers — so there are no practical restrictions on operations to of through these countries either.
So, of the original 24 agreements only ten other countries actually use the permit system and limit the number available. These are Austria, Eire, France, Italy, Portugal, West Germany, Hungary, Spain, Turkey and Yugoslavia. This applies to hire or reward haulage only: ownaccount operations are subject to fewer restrictions and only .five countries (Czechoslovakia, Portugal, Spain, Turkey. and Yugoslavia) need permit S for own-account journeys.
Before going further and referring to them as just permits, the principal types of permit issued should be explained.
They can first be sub-divided into bilateral and multilateral.
Bilateral (the most common) allow journeys to or through one country from another; only two countries are involved in the agreement and the operation.
Multilateral permits allow journeys to or through a wide range of countries.
The major bilateral permit is the general quota permit and it is under this that most international traffic moves. It authorises one journey, outward and return to one of the ten countries in the table below (Finland is now non-quota).
Even if the haulier is merely passing through the country he will need a permit. For instance, for a. journey to Austria a UK haulier will need three general quota permits; one each for France, West Germany and Austria.
Although general quota permits are normally valid for just one outward and return journey, multiple journey permits are also available for France which allow four outward and return journeys during three months.
Similarly, period permits are available for France, West Germany, Portugal and Spain which allow a single vehicle an unlimited number of journeys in a year.
The .bilateral non-quota permit is similar to the general
quota permit but as its name indicates, there is no quota for it and is readily granted. They are used for all hire or reward operations to Czechoslovakia and Finland plus certain traffics to other bilateral agreement countries — for example, the carriage of ship and aircraft parts to or through France.
Another type of bilateral permit quite often used is the cooperation quota permit which is available to UK hauliers who can arrange backloads for French, West German or Portuguese hauliers who would otherwise be returning empty from the UK.
The UK haulier informs the International Road Freight• Office in Newcastle how many loads he has so arranged and will receive the same number of co-operation quota permits for the appropriate countries — these are France, West Ger many or Portugal.
These can be used in exact'. the same way as a general quot permit and so are a usefu bonus. The aim of this co operation quota permit is ti maximise international trans port efficiency by encouragim backloading wherever possible.
Finally, there are severa other rather specialised types o bilateral permits which apph only to West Germany. Fo example, there is a permit whict authorises journeys to Wes Berlin, while another is a quoU permit for NATO traffic to o through West Germany.
Multilateral permits are rarer breed. They are fewer ir number and only two variation: exist. First, there is the EEC per mit which authorises a Ul< haulier to make any journe) between any of the ninE European Economic Communit) member states (Belgium, Den. mark, France, West Germany, Eire, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK). The journey does not have to originate in the haulier's home country — a UK haulier could operate from West Germany to Italy for instance.
A conventional bilateral journey can also be run under an' EEC permit. However, cabotage is not permissible; that is to say a foreign haulier from 'country B cannot pick up a load in country A and deliver it within the same country.
Nor does an EEC permit allow one of the EEC countries to be crossed so that loads may be picked up or delivered in countries which don't belong to the EEC.
-The EEC permit can only be used for one vehicle at a time but lasts a year and authorises an unlimited number of journeys throughout the nine EEC countries.
The other kind of multilateral permit is the ECMT permit. This is agreed by the European Council of Ministers of Transport and allows exactly the same sort of journeys as the EEC per mit but throughout the 18 countries in the ECMT — the nine EEC members plus Austria, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Yugoslavia.
Those are the various types of
permit that cover most of international road haulage. Unfortunately, it i. not always simply a matter of getting the relevant permit and catching the ferry. The numberof permits available in the UK's quotas is by no means always sufficient, particularly in the case of the dominant type of permit, the general quota permit.
The two countries involved in each bilateral agreement have regular meetings at which the total quota (among other things) is discussed. Of the ten countries holding bilateral general quota permit agreements with the UK we have been successful in negotiating an adequate number of general quota permits with five countries — Eire, Hungary, Spain, Turkey and Yugoslavia.
But negotiations with Austria, France, Italy, Portugal and West Germany have not been so fruitful (not through any lack of effort) and the UK quota with these countries has always been inadequate for the UK operators' demands.
At each bilateral joint committee meeting the UK Minister of Transport and his advisers invariably stand out for a larger quota. Sadly, also invariably, these other five countries will strongly oppose this and try to keep any increase in the quota to an absolute minimum. What is the reason for this divergence of opinion about the permit quota?
As an island community the United 'Kingdom has a very high reliance on international road haulage — far higher than our Continental partners who utilise their. rail network to a greater extent for freight movements. So we have a dominant international road haulage industry which carries most of the traffic to and from our shores.
So, while the UK is always wanting an increased quota, the other countries do not have this fteed and so oppose large increases. Austria and West Germany in particular feel that their roads take an unfair hammering, situated as they are on she main European transit routes, and so have even less incentive to grant us more general quota permits.
So while our quota will usually increase at each bilateral meeting, the rise in the total number of permits for UK hauliers running to France, Austria, Italy, Portugal and West Germany is never enough as far as we are concerned. The accompanying table charts our recent progress in our general quota permit negotiations.
Austria stands out as being a stumbling block in terms of any proportional increase in the quota. Fortunately, it is not a country that generates a lot of haulage traffic to and from the UK.
Progress with France (until this year) has also not been memorable, and this has been more of a hindrance since many of the French permits are needed for transit purposes as the vehicles go through France en route to other destinations.
In the last 12 months we
have enjoyed a little more SUCcess with a few countries. Speaking at CM's Fleet Management Conference last October, Transport Minister Norman Fowler was able to announce a massive 75 per cent increase in the UK's quota with West Germany,
This meant that our total Of general quota permits to West Germany went up from 9450 in 1979 to 16,500 this year. At the same time, Mr Fowler revealed that the 1981 West German quota would be at least 20,000.
We also managed to obtain a 24 per cent increase in our French quota In June this year the number of co-operative quota permits between the UK and Portugal took a turn for the better, going up by 60 per cent from 250 to 400. Furthermore, the Portuguese general quota will go' up from 480 to 600 on January 1 1981.
In December last year the UK succeeded in achieving a 20 per cent rise in our allocation of ECMT permits, despite stiff opposition once again from West Germany and Italy. This meant an increase in our ECMT permit quota of 63, from 355 to 418.
And earlier this month a further 25 per cent rise was proposed in Brussels which would bring our total up to 523 ECMT permits. But this has yet to be confirmed, and when negotiations are finally concluded in December it looks like being nearer a 15 to 20 per cent increase, primarily due to the West German pro-railway attitude.
The most significant deve lopments which spell some sort of hope for the British policy on international haulage came in June. First, the UK! Finland permit quota was abolished and changed to a non-quota agreement — a definite step in the right direction even though Finnish permits had never caused us problems.
And secondly, own-account traffic between the UK and Italy was freed from all types of permit restrictions; an own-account document stating details such as the nature of the goods and consignors' /consignees' names and addresses will do. Now, all own-account traffic between EEC countries is permit-free.
So in general terms the United Kingdom is making headway in attempting to get all types of permit quotas pushed up higher for the benefit of the British international hauliers. But how are these extra quotas being distributed to the individual hauliers?
As already mentioned, for journeys to Czechoslovakia and Finland there are an unlimited number of permits available and so a straighforward written request to the International Road Freight Office in Newcastle should do the trick.
Although there is a quota for permits to Eire, Hungary, Spain, Turkey and Yugoslavia, the allocation is fairly generous and enough to meet UK hauliers' demands, so once again a written request to IRFO should be successful (provided the haulier meets the necessary standards).
But because of the lack of general quota permits for France, Italy, Portugal, Austria and West Germany, a rationing system is used for theSe applications.
Various systems of achieving this have been tried, but the block allocation method has proved the most satisfactory. An established international haulier will receive at least the same number of permits as he did the previous year.
Of the extra quota that may have been negotiated nationally, about half will be set aside for new operators while the other half will be used to increase proportionately the alio cations of the existing operators. The system is designed to allow new operators to join the business as well as let established ones grow.
If an operator's allocation is not entirely used up one year, it will probably not be reduced the next year unless it was drastically under-utilised.
When deciding which new operators should receive permits IRFO will consider the companies' use of the cooperation quota permits — if a haulier has taken advantage of these he has proved his need for permits and stands a better chance of getting general quota permits.
No matter how fairly the rationing system operates the basic fact still remains — there are not enough permits for UK hauliers wanting to go to France, Italy, Austria, Portugal and West Germany. This has inevitably lead to malpractices.
Permits cannot be sold on the open market and pass directly from one operator to another — IRFO must be involved to check that the new operator meets the required standards, and the name on the permit must be changed.
If a haulier does use a permit issued in another company's name, then he is committing an offence under the International Road Haulage Permits Act 1975.
It is possible for him to be subsequently punished in three ways: he can be convicted and sentenced in a magistrates' court, he can have his permit allocation reduced or withdrawn by IRFO, and, he can have his Operator's licence revoked, curtailed or suspended. So the penalties are harsh.
The immediate future of the permit position for the UK looks like being as eventful as its past. The recent increases in some of the quotas the UK holds have eased the pressure on the system slightly and are a light at the end of the tunnel.
However, the difficult countries remain difficult — particu larly West Germany, Italy and Austria — and seem likely to pursue their policy of keeping quotas down to suit their own needs.
While constantly pressing for increased road haulage quotas, the United Kingdom govern ment has a declared long-term objective of scrapping the per
mit system altogether as a Major step in liberalising international haulage traffic.
Said Transport Minister Norman Fowler: -We still have
some way to go to achieve the completely free international movement for British hauliers
that I want. But we are at last on the right path and I am pleased to see that our European partners are finally recognising our special problems.
The most recent development would seem to indicate that some of our European partners do indeed recognise our special problems — but they are not giving much away. Total liberalisation such as Mr Fowler is working towards will not come without lengthy verbal battles and some hard negotiating on Britain's part.
In just three weeks' time our next round of bilateral meetings begins when our Department of Transport representatives meet some of their Continental opposite numbers, starting with the French. The Department is hoping to negotiate a healthy increase in the quota for the UK hauliers.