On 3rd July the European Parliament (EP) adopted the report (488 for, 67 against, 129 abstentions), drafted by Silvia-Adriana Ticău, on behalf of Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), at the Plenary in Strasbourg.

Report on the proposal for a regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2011)0451 – C7-0205/2011 – 2011/0196(COD))

Since 1970 the European Union (EU) has regulated the installation and use of tachographs which play a fundamental role in road safety by ensuring that professional road transport drivers comply with the rules on driving time and rest periods. Since implementation they have also led to an improvement in the working conditions of drivers and fairer competition between road transport companies. An aim of the Commission is also to make tachographs more cost effective so that they can be further integrated into the road freight transport market thus improving road safety even more. This strategy was outlined in the Commission's White Paper on transport of 28th March 2011 (COM(2011) 144).

"The current legislation in place for recording equipment is Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport. The Regulation sets technical standards and establishes the rules on the use, type approval, installation and inspection of tachographs. It creates a range of legal obligations for manufacturers and authorities but also for transport operators and drivers. This Regulation has already been adapted ten times to technological progress, by the comitology procedure. At present, two types of tachograph are in use by some 900,000 transport undertakings and 6 million drivers. In addition to a digital tachograph introduced in vehicles registered after 1st May 2006, the analogue tachograph has been in use since 1985 and is still used in older vehicles." (COM(2011) 451) Regarding the newer digital tachograph, the driver's activities are recorded and, after encryption, the data stored both in the recording equipment and on a personalised smart driver card’.

On 19th July 2011 the European Commission brought forward a proposal, revising the 1985 Tachograph Regulation, with the purpose of making fraud more difficult thus enforcing the social rules. In addition by making use of more up to date technology it is hoped that administrative burden will be reduced especially as more regulatory measures will be introduced. On the 31st May TRAN adopted the report (25 for, 3 against, 12 abstentions), drafted by Silvia-Adriana Ticău, recommending amendments to the Commission's proposal the following areas:

Tachograph:

Purpose of the Regulation:

Daily working period:

Requirements:

Data protection:

Harmonised ITS:

Type approval of software:

Seals:

Workshops:

Driver card:

Transport undertaking:

Control officers:

Very serious infringements:

Telephone Hotline:

The Impact Assessment can be read here and the Summary of the Impact Assessment here

The Report can be read here and the Press Release here

Or alternatively visit the website: http://www.europarl.europa.eu

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