Road transport in the single market - identifying challenges and the way forward - a BusinessEurope position paper

This position paper constitutes BusinessEurope’s response to four recent and ongoing Commission public consultations in the area of road transport in the single market, namely on:

• The review of Regulation 1071/2009/EC on access to the occupation of road transport operator and Regulation 1072/2009/EC on access to the international road haulage market;
• The review of Directive 1999/62/EC (‘Eurovignette Directive’) as amended, on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain roads;
• The review of Directive 2004/52/EC and Decision 2009/750/EC on the European Electronic Toll Services (EETS); and,
• The enhancement of social legislation in road transport.

Besides responding to the issues raised by the public consultations, this position paper outlines other remaining administrative, technical and regulatory barriers and challenges that hamper cross-border road transport operations and directly affect the competitiveness of European transport and logistics companies and the EU economy as a whole. With this paper, we also aim to point the way towards finding solutions for the identified challenges.

KEY MESSAGES

1. BusinessEurope is concerned about recent developments in a number of EU countries resulting in new obstacles to international transport operations, which are considerably affecting free movement in the single market.
2. Road transport is one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the EU. For specific existing pieces of legislation (indicated below), further clarification, guidance or revision to make rules simpler, more transparent, clearer, and therefore more easily enforceable would greatly help transport operators, logistics companies and business in general.
3. Diverse interpretation by Member States, incomplete implementation, incorrect application and weak enforcement of existing rules are the main causes for the challenges for and obstacles to road transport in the single market.
4. To promote fair competition, the policy focus should be on fighting illegal practices such as undeclared work and bogus self-employment. Enforcement of current rules should be the priority.