Directive 2015/413 - Facilitation of cross-border exchange of information on road-safety-related traffic offences - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 68/9

Improving road safety is a prime objective of the Union's transport policy. The Union is pursuing a policy to improve road safety with the objective of reducing fatalities, injuries and material damage. An important element of that policy is the consistent enforcement of sanctions for road traffic offences committed in the Union which considerably jeopardise road safety.

However, due to a lack of appropriate procedures and notwithstanding existing possibilities under Council Decision 2008/615/JHA (3) and Council Decision 2008/616/JHA (4) (the ‘Prüm Decisions’), sanctions in the form of financial penalties for certain road traffic offences are often not enforced if those offences are committed with a vehicle which is registered in a Member State other than the Member State where the offence took place. This Directive aims to ensure that even in such cases, the effectiveness of the investigation of road-safety-related traffic offences should be ensured.

In its communication of 20 July 2010 entitled ‘Towards a European road safety area: policy orientations on road safety 2011-2020’, the Commission emphasised that enforcement of road traffic rules remains a key factor in creating the conditions for a considerable reduction in the number of deaths and injuries. In its conclusions of 2 December 2010 on road safety, the Council called for consideration of the need for further strengthening of enforcement of road traffic rules by Member States and, where appropriate, at Union level. It invited the Commission to examine the possibilities of harmonising traffic rules at Union level where appropriate and adopting further measures on facilitating cross-border enforcement with regard to road traffic offences, in particular those related to serious traffic accidents.

On 19 March 2008, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council facilitating cross-border enforcement in the field of road safety on the basis of Article 71(1)(c) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (now Article 91 of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)). Directive 2011/82/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) was, however, adopted on the basis of Article 87(2) TFEU. The judgment of the Court of Justice of 6 May 2014 in Case C-43/12 (6) annulled Directive 2011/82/EU on the grounds that it could not validly be adopted on the basis of Article 87(2) TFEU. The judgment maintained the effects of Directive 2011/82/EU until the entry into force within a reasonable period of time — which is not to exceed 12 months as from the date of delivery of the judgment — of a new directive based on Article 91(1)(c) TFEU. Therefore a new Directive should be adopted on the basis of that Article.

Greater convergence of control measures between Member States should be encouraged and the Commission should examine in this respect the need for developing common standards for automatic checking equipment for road safety...