Council Regulation (EC) No 2135/98 of 24 September 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport and Directive 88/599/EEC concerning the application of Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 75(1)(c) and (d) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission^f1,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee^f2,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189c of the Teaty^f3,

Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 of 20 December 1985 on recording equipment in road transport^f4 lays down provisions concerning the construction, installation, use and testing of recording equipment in road transport;

Whereas experience has shown that the economic pressures and competition in road transport have led some drivers employed by road haulage companies to flout certain rules, particularly those concerning the driving and rest times laid down in Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 of 20 December 1985 on the harmonisaton of certain social legislation relating to road transport^f5;

Whereas blatant infringements and fraud present a road safety hazard and are unacceptable for reasons of competition for the individual driver who does respect the rules;

Whereas road safety would be improved by the automatic recording and regular monitoring, both by the undertaking and by the competent authorities, of details of the driver's performance and behaviour and of the vehicle's journey, such as speed and distance covered;

Whereas Community social regulations contain certain requirements for limits on the daily driving and rest time and also for the total driving and rest time, for up to two weeks; whereas it is difficult to monitor compliance with these requirements given that data are recorded on several daily record sheets, out of which the record sheets for the current week and the last day of the previous week are to be stored in the cab;

Whereas, to put an end to the most common abuses of the present system, it is therefore necessary to introduce new advanced equipment such as recording equipment fitted with an electronic device for storing relevant information and a personal driver card, so ensuring that the data recorded are retrievable, intelligible when printed out, and reliable, and that they provide anindisputable record of the work done by both the driver over the last few days and by the vehicle over a period of several months;

Whereas the total security of the system and its components is essential if recording equipment is to function efficiently;

Whereas provisions need to be established to govern the conditons under which the memory cards provided for in Annex IB may be issued and used;

Whereas the data on drivers' activities must be verifiable by the drivers themselves, by the companies that employ them and by the competent authorities of the Member States; whereas, however, only data relevant to their respective activities should be accessible to a driver and his company;

Whereas the recording equipment provided for in this Regulation must be installed on vehicles put into service for the first time after publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities of the technical specifications some of which are defined by the Commission in accordance with the committee procedure referred to in Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85; whereas a tansitional period is needed to allow new recording equipment to be manufactured in accordance with those technical specifications and granted EC component type-approval;

Whereas it is desirable that recording equipment complying with Annex IB should also offer the possibility of low-cost expansion of its functions for fleet management;

Whereas, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, Community action is necessary to amend Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 in order to ensure that recording equipment complying with Annex IB is compatible with driver cards and that the data produced by recording equipment complying with Annexes I and IB are consistent;

Whereas technical progress necessitates the prompt adoption of the technical requirements laid down in the Annexes to this Regulation; whereas, in order to facilitate the implementation of the measures needed for this purpose, provision should be made for technical adaptations of those Annexes to be approved by the Commission, acting in accordance with the committee procedure as set out in Council Decision 87/373/EEC of 13 July 1987 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission^f6;

Whereas the introduction of new recording equipment means that certain provisions of Directive 88/599/EEC^f7 concering the application of Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85 need to be amended,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: