Road transport: recording equipment, tachograph

The common position of the Council follows and expands the amended Commission proposal, which incorporated the European Parliament's amendments aimed at paving the way for the introduction of a new generation of fully digital recording equipment with integrated memory according with the system referred to in Annex I(B). The common position requires the installation of fully digital recording equipment in accordance with the provisions of Annex I(B) on all new vehicles as from 01/07/2000 if all the conditions laid down are met, i.e. in particular if certain technical specifications itemized in Annex I(B) are adopted, if possible before 01/07/1998, under the type III(a) committee procedure. In comparison with the amended proposal, the common position comprises significant changes, the main ones being as follows: - deletion of Annex I(A): the common position no longer provides for the possibility of installing and using equipment which complies with Annex I(A) nor alternative digital systems which ensure a performance equivalent to that of system I(B); - the granting by each Member State of EC type approval for new recording equipment produced in accordance with the technical specifications in Annex I(B); - the sharing of responsibility between employers and drivers for the correct functioning and proper use of the system; - the definition of precise conditions for the issue of the driver card (normal residence criterion), for the period of the card's validity, for the conditions of replacement, renewal, mutual recognition, exchange, suspension or withdrawal of the card; - the storage for at least 365 days of the data needed to monitor compliance with the Regulation; - the storage of the symbol of the country in which the driver begins and ends his daily work period; - procedures relating to inspections at the roadside which take account of the temporary existence of the two systems side by side, namely the possibility of there being in service both vehicles fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex I to the Regulation and vehicles fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex I(B); - a mechanism which determines the date of compulsory installation of recording equipment in accordance with Annex I(B) (and the issue by Member States of driver cards) in keeping with the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities of certain technical specifications in Annex I(B) (if possible before 01/01/1998); - the requirement for certain vehicles already in service to replace the existing recording equipment with equipment which conforms with the requirements of Annex I(B) if the former is defective; - the amendments to Directive 88/599/EEC the aim of which is: .not to create any discrimination, at the time of roadside checks, between drivers of vehicles fitted with the current recording equipment (with disk) and drivers of vehicles fitted with recording equipment in accordance with Annex I(B) and with driver cards; .to allow checks by the competent authorities, at their own premises, of the data recorded by the recording equipment in accordance with Annex I(B) and by the driver cards; - the inclusion of an expanded Annex I(B) providing in particular for: .a memory, built into the recording equipment, making it possible to store the relevant data for the purposes of checks for at least 365 days after being recorded; .a printer in the vehicle cab (built in or capable of being connected to the recording equipment); .a company card which gives the company access to data on the work of drivers in its vehicles; .a control card held by the competent authorities of the Member States to obtain access to data stored in the memory of the recording equipment or in the driver cards; .a list of the data which it must be possible to display on the screen of the recording equipment or to print; .a list of the warning signals in the event of any malfunction of the system or where the regulation periods are exceeded; .the recording of driving times, other periods of work or of availability, breaks from work and daily rest periods with an accuracy of one minute. �