Regulation 2014/165 - Tachographs in road transport, repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport and amending Regulation 561/2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 60/1

Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 (3) lays down provisions concerning the construction, installation, use and testing of tachographs. It has been substantially amended on several occasions. In order to ensure greater clarity, its main provisions should therefore be simplified and re-structured.

Experience has shown that, in order to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the tachograph system, certain technical elements and control procedures should be improved.

Certain vehicles are subject to an exemption from the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). In order to ensure coherence, it should also be possible to exempt such vehicles from the scope of this Regulation.

Tachographs should be installed in vehicles to which Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 applies. Certain vehicles should be excluded from the scope of that Regulation in order to introduce some flexibility, namely vehicles with a maximum permissible mass not exceeding 7,5 tonnes used for carrying materials, equipment or machinery for the driver’s use in the course of his work, and which are used only within a 100 km radius from the base of the undertaking, on condition that driving such vehicles does not constitute the driver’s main activity. In order to ensure coherence between the relevant exemptions set out in Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, and to reduce the administrative burden on transport undertakings whilst respecting the objectives of that Regulation, certain maximum permissible distances set out in those exemptions should be revised.

The Commission will consider extending the period of validity of the adaptor for M1 and N1 vehicles until 2015 and give further consideration to a long-term solution for M1 and N1 vehicles before 2015.

The Commission should consider the inclusion of weight sensors in heavy goods vehicles and should assess the potential for weight sensors to contribute to improved compliance with road transport legislation.

The use of tachographs connected to a global navigation satellite system is an appropriate and cost-efficient means of recording automatically the position of a vehicle at certain points during the daily working period in order to support control officers during controls, and should therefore be provided for.

In its judgment in Case C-394/92 Michielsen and Geybels Transport Service  (5), the Court of Justice provided a definition of the term ‘daily working period’, and the control authorities should read the provisions of this Regulation in the light of that definition. The ‘daily working period’ commences at the time when the driver switches on the tachograph following a weekly or daily rest period, or, if the daily rest is divided into...