Use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road

The European Parliament adopted by 353 votes to 257 with 26 abstentions certain amendments on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2006/1/EC on the use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road.

The matter was referred back to the competent committee for interinstitutional negotiations.

As a reminder, the proposal aims at enabling companies to take greater advantage of the use of vehicles rented without a driver for the carriage of goods by road. It is part of the ‘Europe on the move’ package of clean, competitive and connected mobility proposed by the European Commission.

The main amendments adopted in plenary concern the following:

Use of hired vehicles: Members considered that Member States should not be allowed to restrict the use on their respective territories of a vehicle hired by an undertaking duly established on the territory of another Member State, provided that the vehicle is registered and complies with operating standards and safety requirements, or put into circulation in compliance with the laws of any Member State and authorised to be operated by the Member State of establishment of the undertaking responsible .

Limitations: given the different levels of taxation of road transport within the Union, Member States should be able to:

• limit the time of use of the hired vehicle within their respective territory provided that they allows the use of the hired vehicle for at least four consecutive months any given calendar year;
• limit the number of hired vehicles that can be used by any undertaking, provided that they allow the use of at least a number of vehicles corresponding to 25% of the overall goods vehicle fleet owned by the undertaking; in which case an undertaking that has an overall fleet of less than four vehicles, shall be allowed to use at least one such hired vehicle.

National electronic register: the information on a hired vehicle´s registration number shall be entered in the national electronic register as defined in Regulation (EC) 1071/2009. Competent authorities of the Member State of establishment of an operator that are informed of the use of a vehicle which that operator has hired and which is registered or put into circulation in compliance with the laws of another Member State shall inform the competent authorities of that other Member State thereof.

Report: the implementation and effects of the directive should be monitored by the Commission and reported no later than 3 years after the date of transposition. The report shall pay particular attention to the impact on road safety, and on tax revenues, including fiscal distortions, and on the enforcement of cabotage rules.