The European Union is changing the rules for truck drivers and freight transport companies
When the changes will be adopted is not yet known. As Deutsche Welle notes, so far all three participants in the EU legislative process – the European Parliament, the EU Council, and the European Commission – have only formulated their positions. And now they will have to negotiate to find a common vision for new rules for drivers and transport companies that will apply throughout the European Union.
Driver rest conditions
Current rules require that each truck driver receive at least 45 hours of rest after a maximum of six days of work. At the same time, reduced rest is allowed: it must not be shorter than 24 hours after six working days. But then, during the next weekly rest, the driver must receive compensation. Namely, the time they missed in the previous week is added to the required 45 hours.
This model is not planned to be changed, but the compensation system is to be made more flexible. The European Commission proposed allowing two consecutive reduced weekly rests once a month. During the next – non-reduced – rest, the driver must be compensated for all unused time. The EU Council added a requirement that once every four weeks, the truck driver must be given the opportunity to spend a weekly rest at home. The European Parliament added that this could be not only at home but wherever the driver wishes.
Another likely innovation is no less important: all three institutions insist that regular weekly rest cannot be taken in the truck cabin. And if the truck driver spends it not at home, the transport company must pay for accommodation. The European Parliament believes that such a rest place should be of good quality and take into account the driver's gender. The EU Council, however, wants to soften this requirement: with the driver's consent, they can rest in the cabin, but only if it is a reduced rest.
In addition, creating a sufficient number of safe parking lots is to be made mandatory. Currently, according to the European Commission, there is a shortage of 400,000 such parking lots across the EU. However, the EU Council and the European Parliament have different views on whether EU member states should be obliged to finance their construction. For its part, the European Commission allocates funds for this from the EU budget (45 million euros in 2014-17).
Payment for drivers' work in another country
The European Union currently has a special system for posting workers abroad, but only within the EU. According to the system, their working conditions must comply with the rules of their home country, not the country where they perform the work. But there are restrictions: the work must be short-term and meet the minimum requirements of the state where people are actually working. However, only a few EU countries apply these rules to truck drivers.
The European Commission proposed introducing common rules across the EU for drivers working abroad. For example, the EC wants them to receive higher pay for their work if they work at least three days a month in a country with a higher wage level.
There are considerable differences on this issue. Both the EU Council and the European Parliament want drivers to receive more money from the first day of work in countries with higher wages. Transit should not fall under the posting system. An exception is also to be made for cases where two loading/unloading operations are performed during a transit trip: either one on the way there and one on the way back, or both on the way home. This should help ensure that the truck does not travel empty on the return trip.
Monitoring compliance with the rules
These rules, if adopted, will only work if a new system for monitoring compliance is put into operation. This relies primarily on "smart" tachographs. Such devices are installed on trucks to record speed, distance traveled, and what the driver was doing.
Tachographs are called "smart" when they are equipped with satellite navigation systems. This will make it easy to monitor which truck crossed the border and when, as well as where loading or unloading took place. Both the EU Council and the European Parliament want to make it mandatory to equip all trucks with "smart" tachographs. There is no agreement yet only on the timing of the new measure's entry into force. The likely time is the end of 2023 or the end of 2024.
Will the changes affect our drivers?
The working conditions of drivers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and a number of other countries on EU territory are regulated by the European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles Engaged in International Road Transport (AETR). The planned EU innovations regarding rest rules will not directly change the AETR.
At the same time, the norms for posting drivers abroad will affect (it is not yet known exactly how) our domestic truck drivers. The fact is that the EU has a principle that drivers from the European Union cannot have worse conditions than drivers from third countries, in particular from the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Belarus. In addition, the draft changes state that "smart" tachographs will be mandatory for all international road transport on EU territory.
It should be noted that so far the adoption of all these changes has been progressing with great difficulty: the European Commission submitted its proposals back in May 2017. It is not yet known when exactly consultations on this matter will begin between the European Parliament, the EU Council and the European Commission. Some MEPs would like to do this as early as June. However, a more likely date is autumn, when the newly elected European Parliament begins its work. The European Commission generally supports the direction in which the EU Council and MEPs have been amending its proposals, EC officials assured journalists.