EEC loads
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DISCUSSIONS are taking place at the EEC between traffic experts on the problem of heavy or awkward loads passing by lorry from one country to another.
The European Commission wants to persuade member countries to agree on a common simplified procedure which will allow drivers to cross frontiers on the production of one authorisation document.
A consultant, who spent two years studying the problem on the Commission's behalf, has drawn up a report on the redtape jungle which exists at present.
A haulier taking a heavy load into West Germany, for example, must apply for a "no objection" ruling from the railways that they cannot do the job themselves. Then permission must be granted in advance from every local authority through whose area the load will travel.
West German firms specialising in heavy loads have complained for many years about the red-tape which, they say, increases their costs. But the authorities have so far not budged. The Commission plans to make proposals based on the experts' recommendations, but work is still at an early stage.