The mobility package

 

will change transport up to 3.5t forever

Mobility Package - new challenges for the transport industry 

 

The new requirements and several obligations resulting from the mobility package will hit the hardest companies that carry out international road transport with vans(up to 3.5t). See what new obligations will be imposed on carriers.

 

                The 3 years old dispute is finally resolved - we already know the official dates of the new regulations governing international road transport becoming effective. The agreement was reached on July 8, 2020, where, after another stormy negotiation, the trilogue (consisting of the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, and the European Commission) concluded a compromise and the draft of the mobility package was officially approved. The announcement of the mobility package in the Journal of the European Union took place on July 31, 2020 – people engaged in this industry will certainly remember this date for a long time. The implementation of the legal acts included in the package will be carried out in several stages over some time - some of them will become effective later this year and the rest in the consecutive years.

 
What is the mobility package about in a nutshell?
 

Its underlying idea is to regulate three important aspects:

  • regulation relating to driving times and rest periods,
  • posting of drivers and minimum wage,
  • provide a clear and common framework for the road transport sector in the EU.

It is worth noting the fact that not all regulations apply directly to the road transport industry with vans up to 3.5 tons.

 

Below we present a graphic timeline that shows the upcoming changes at specific dates:

 

pakiet-mobilnosci-2020

Prepared on the basis of the graphics on https://www.ocrk.pl/pakiet-mobilnosci/

What changes will apply within 20 days from the announcement of the acceptance of the Mobility Package?

From August 20th of the current year changes to two important regulations become effective:

  • mandatory driver homecoming at regular intervals every 4 or 3 weeks,
  • tightening of regulations regarding the weekly shortened,
  • clarification of the ban on taking regular weekly rests in the vehicle cabin,
  • possibility of extending both the daily and weekly driving when returning to the company's headquarters or place of residence to take a weekly rest,
  • possibility of interrupting the weekly rest by the driver traveling on a ferry or by train.
The regulation that will become effective within 18 months concern: the posting of drivers and access to the market.

It is worth noting that these regulations will also apply to transport companies that carry out international transport with vans up to 3.5 tons. From that moment on changes will apply i.e. to:

  • setting a minimum wage for truck drivers engaged in international or cabotage transport,
  • rules of performing cabotage (an additional four-day cooling-off period between cabotage operations within the same country with the same vehicle),
  • reimbursement of travel expenses and expenditure can’t be counted to minimum wage,
  • obligation to record the moment of crossing a country border in the tachograph (only within the EU),
  • mandatory return of trucks to the country of registration every eight weeks.

Failure to comply with the regulations will result in loss of reputation by the carrier, which ultimately results in the revoking of the carrier’s concession for international transport.

Within 21 months after the regulations were published (June 2022)

Transport companies that still want to carry out international road transport with vans up to 3.5 tons for commercial purposes must meet the following requirements:

  • hold a permit to engage in the business of a road transport operator,
  • obtain a license,
  • meet financial standing requirements, with €1,800 or equivalent needed for the first vehicle and €900 for each subsequent vehicle

Is the introduction of the mobility package a change for better?

We will have to wait a little longer to answer this question. The atmosphere in which the mobility package was developed (we would like to remind that it took 3 years to work it out) was tense at times, and the voices of opposition were heard until the very end.

 

In short, the supporters of the new solutions emphasize the benefits that await the industry after implementing the mobility package. These include:

  • providing drivers with systematic returns home (every 3/4 weeks),
  • removing unfair competition from the market - mainly due to the changes applied in the control of drivers' working time,
  • ensuring equal rates for drivers at the level as in Western Europe.

 

There are also opposing voices to the changes who raise the following issues with the new regulations:

  • increasing bureaucracy and likely disarranging in accounting for drivers’ compensation (e.g. calculating social security contributions or sickness benefits),
  • crisis of transport companies, which may end up in bankruptcy, due to insolvency (mainly van operators),
  • a sharp increase in the rates of transport services,
  • loss of flexibility when it comes to selecting the drivers' work system,
  • more possibilitiesof losing a company's good reputation,higher penalties for exceeding the permitted working time of the driver; often due to independent reasons - e.g. related to road infrastructure or unforeseen events on roads, there is a high probability of breaking the regulations.

               These regulations can certainly make it difficult for many transport companies to remain in the business. Both the company's good reputation and financial stability in this industry are very important.

               Another important regulation that can painfully affect all carriers is the mandatory replacement of devices recording the working time of drivers. So far, tachographs are limited to the basic recording of driving time and driver activity on the road, marking his rests and breaks at the same time. These devices are mandatory for most vehicles exceeding the maximum weight of more than 3.5tons. The act on amending the technical regulations presented by the mobility package is to enter into force around August 2021. However, it will be divided into stages over about 5 years.

pakiet-mobilnosci-2020-tacho

Based on the graph published on https://www.ocrk.pl/pakiet-mobilnosci/

 

Of course, the cost of replacing the tachographs remains with the operator/owner of the van. The implementation procedure for the second-generation smart tachographs will cost the European transport industry around several hundred million euros.

                Let us hope that despite the already weakened not only European but above all Global economy, the new changes in the transport regulations adopted by the parties to the trilogue will not bring more problems and worries to the (already weakened) transport industry.

 

 

 

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