The European social legislation relating to road transport cannot attain its objectives of social progress, harmonization of conditions of competition and improved road safety unless these rules, which focus primarily on driving time and drivers' rest periods, are implemented effectively and duly monitored by the Member States. For this reason, from the outset Regulation No 543/69 called on the Member States to supply the Commission with data on the measures taken to implement and monitor compliance with the rules laid down therein so that the Commission could compile an annual report. When Regulation No 543/69 was replaced by Regulation No 3820/85 this obligation was retained in Article 16, except that since then the report covers a two-year period. This report marks a break with the earlier Commission reports on the implementation of the social legislation relating to road transport, in that it is the first report exclusively on Regulation No 3820/85. It is also the first based on the standard form introduced by the Decision of 22 February 1993. This makes it particularly difficult to establish a trend in implementation of this legislation. Most of the data gathered here cannot be compared with the earlier figures. Moreover, although most Member States submitted their data in a format close to the standard form, they are still not yet uniform and some of the data submitted were fragmentary, incomplete or for the wrong reference period. Also, in some oases it took time to make the transition. The principal headings in this report cover the checks, the different types of offence, the penalties, the national regulatory and administrative initiatives, cooperation between' the Member States and, finally, comments by the Member States and the Commission on implementation of this legislation.
Samenvatting