Mobility package: Council adopts truck drivers reform

The Council today adopted a major reform of the EU road transport sector, known as the mobility package. The new rules will improve drivers’ working conditions, introduce special posting rules for drivers in international transport, and update provisions on access to the haulage market. They will also make enforcement more efficient. A provisional agreement was reached between the Council presidency and the European Parliament on 11 December 2019. The agreed text was endorsed by the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee on 20 December 2019, and the Council confirmed the political agreement on 20 February 2020.

The new rules are designed to ensure a balance between improved working and social conditions for drivers and the freedom to provide cross-border services for operators, and will also contribute to road safety. In addition, they will provide clarity for the sector regarding previously ambiguous provisions and put an end to their uneven application between member states.

The package consists of a regulation governing access to the road haulage market and to the profession of road haulage operator or road passenger transport operator; a regulation on maximum work and minimum rest times for drivers and positioning by means of tachographs; and a directive revising enforcement requirements and laying down rules on posting of drivers.

Next steps

Today’s vote, taken by means of a written procedure, means that the Council has adopted its position at first reading. The legal acts now need to be adopted by the European Parliament at second reading before being published in the Official Journal. The two regulations will enter into force 20 days after publication, and the directive the day after publication.

The rules in the market access regulation and posting directive will become applicable 18 months after the entry into force of the legal acts. The rules in the driving times regulation will apply 20 days after publication, with the exception of special deadlines for tachographs.

• Regulation relating to access to the profession and to the market – full text
• Regulation relating to driving times and rest periods and tachographs – full text
• Directive relating to enforcement and posting drivers in the road transport sect – full text
• Truck drivers reform: Coreper confirms provisional agreement on mobility package (press release, 20 December 2019)