Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Transport ° Road transport ° Social provisions ° Regulation No 3820/85 ° Scope ° Transport by vehicles registered in one Member State on routes only partly within the Community ° Included

(Council Regulation No 3820/85, Art. 2(1))

2. Transport ° Road transport ° Social provisions ° Period of 24 hours within the meaning of Article 8(1) of Regulation No 3820/85 ° Starting point

(Council Regulation No 3820/85, Art. 8(1))

Summary

1. Article 2(1) of Regulation No 3820/85 on the harmonization of certain social legislation relating to road transport must be interpreted as meaning that that regulation is applicable to carriage by road within the Community by vehicles registered in a Member State in the course of journeys to or from third countries which are not parties to the European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles Engaged in International Road Transport, or in transit through such countries.

The effectiveness of those rules would be compromised if the application of the Community system were dependent on the journeys made by vehicles registered in different Member States and if national laws continued to apply where the journeys were made only partly within the Community.

2. The expression "each period of 24 hours" in Article 8(1) of Regulation No 3820/85 must be interpreted as meaning any period of 24 hours commencing at the time when the driver activates the tachograph following a weekly or daily rest period. Where the daily rest is taken in two or three separate periods, the calculation must commence at the end of the period of not less than eight hours.

Only by adopting that interpretation is it possible to devise a system of alternating periods of driving and rest which preserves road safety and eases drivers' working conditions, which are the objectives pursued by the regulation.