Road haulage and passenger transport companies: operating rules

KEY POINTS

Companies active in the road transport operator business must:

• be effectively and stably established in an EU country;
• be of good repute;
• have appropriate financial standing; and
• have the required professional competence.

Transport manager

Every road transport company must designate a transport manager who is responsible for continuously managing its transport activities. This manager must reside in the EU and have a genuine link to the undertaking, for example as an employee, administrator or shareholder.

How to become a road transport operator

• A company wanting to be active in the road transport operator business must be established in an EU country with premises in that EU country where it can keep all of the documents (accounts, personnel management documents and data relating to driving time and rest, etc.) required for its business.
• The company should have at least one vehicle registered in that EU country at its disposal (once an authorisation has been granted) and have an operating centre situated in that country with the appropriate technical equipment and facilities for the operation of the vehicle(s).
• In addition:
  • neither the company nor the manager can have been convicted for any infringement of certain national and EU rules relating to road transport;
  • the company must be able to meet its financial obligations;
  • the manager must have passed a compulsory written examination, which may be supplemented by an oral examination.

Authorisation and monitoring

• EU countries must designate one or more competent authorities responsible for:
  • examining applications made by companies;
  • granting permits to set up as a road transport operator;
  • declaring a person to be fit/unfit to manage a company’s transport activities;
  • checking that the company fulfils all the relevant requirements.
• The competent authorities are also responsible for following up companies’ applications for registration within 3 months. In addition, they can declare a company unfit to manage transport activities.

Simplification and administrative cooperation

• Each EU country must keep a national electronic register of companies authorised to be active in the road transport operator business. The competent national authorities are responsible for supervising the data in that register.
• The national registers are to be interconnected, allowing the competent authorities of any EU country to consult the national electronic register of any other EU country.

Amending Regulation (EU) 2020/1055

The main changes introduced to Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 by amending Regulation (EU) 2020/1055 include the following.

• Replacing the article on conditions relating to the requirement of a transport undertaking being established (Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009) in order to combat the phenomenon of letterbox companies. It thus tightens the link between the transport operator’s place of establishment and its activities.
• Extending the rules to cover vans used in international transport (light commercial vehicles weighing over 2.5 tonnes).
• Requiring the European Commission to adopt implementing acts laying down a list of categories, types and degrees of gravity of serious infringements of EU rules.
• Introducing new administrative procedures where a transport manager or a company has seriously infringed EU rules.
• Introducing new rules concerning a haulier’s good repute: the minimum period after which transport managers who have lost their good repute can have it restored is 1 year. Managers who have lost their good repute must prove that they have followed a minimum level of training or passed an examination demonstrating knowledge of the subjects listed in Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009.
• Revising Annex IV of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 clarifying the most serious infringements.
• Requiring transport companies to demonstrate, on the basis of annual accounts certified by an auditor or a duly accredited person, that for each year it has specific levels of capital and reserves at its disposal.