Considerations on COM(2023)445 - Amendment of Council Directive 96/53/EC laying down for certain road vehicles circulating within the EC the maximum authorised dimensions in national and international traffic and the maximum authorised weights in international traffic - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2023)445 - Amendment of Council Directive 96/53/EC laying down for certain road vehicles circulating within the EC the maximum ... |
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| document | COM(2023)445  |
| date | July 11, 2023 |
(2) The Commission’s Communication on a Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy putting European transport on track for the future37 makes it clear that in order to contribute to the achievement of the European Green Deal38 objective of a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport by 2050, there is the need to make all transport modes more sustainable, make sustainable alternatives widely available in a multimodal transport system and put in place the right incentives to drive the transition to zero-pollution transportation system in the Union.
(3) By streamlining and clarifying the rules on weights and dimensions of road transport heavy-duty vehicles, it is necessary to address the energy and operational inefficiencies of cross-border transport operations, provide strong incentives to operators for the uptake of zero-emission technologies while facilitating the use of the existing energy-saving solutions, and further support intermodal freight transport operations. To minimise administrative burdens, prevent distortion of competition and reduce risks to road safety and damage of road infrastructure certain requirements as to the use of heavier and longer vehicles should be harmonised and enforcement of the rules in force should be strengthened.
(4) To achieve these objectives, the right balance between economic efficiency, environmental sustainability, protection of road infrastructure and road safety aspects should be struck.
(5) The types of heavy-duty vehicles, as well as the weight values of those vehicles, have been defined with reference to the Union’s legislation on the type-approval and market surveillance of vehicles and their trailers, and systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, in particular Regulation (EU) 2018/85839and (EU) 2019/214440 of the European Parliament and of the Council. It is therefore desirable to update the references to those relevant legal acts, in order to provide for clarity of the applicable legislative framework.
(6) The provisions of Directive 96/53/EU complement Council Directive 92/106/EEC41 as regards promoting and supporting the growth of intermodal transport. The definition of intermodal transport operation should therefore be aligned with the terminology applied in Directive 92/106/EEC, in order to allow lorries, trailers and semi-trailers used in intermodal operations to benefit from the same extra weight allowances as in cases of road vehicles carrying containers or swap bodies and used in containerised intermodal transport. Such weight incentive should encourage road transport operators to engage also in non-containerised intermodal transport.
(7) To ensure a common understanding and uniform implementation of the provisions of this Directive in national and international traffic, it is necessary to clarify that the national derogations from certain maximum permitted weights and dimensions limits for certain types of vehicles circulating in national traffic do not automatically apply to vehicles used in cross-border operations.
(8) The transport of indivisible loads is an important market segment linked with the strategic areas of renewable energy, civil engineering and infrastructure, oil and gas, heavy industry and power generation sectors. Despite the recognised value of the existing European Best Practice Guidelines for Abnormal Transport, adopted by experts designated by the Member States, very little progress has been made towards the simplification and harmonisation of the rules and procedures to obtain permits for the transport of indivisible loads. Without prejudice to the right of Member States to establish the necessary conditions to ensure the safe transport of indivisible loads in their territories, Member States should cooperate to harmonise, to the extent possible, those requirements to avoid the multiplication of diverging conditions serving the same purpose. Member States should also ensure that national requirements are proportionate and non-discriminatory, refraining from imposing unjustified requirements such as fluency in the national language of the Member State concerned. To reduce administrative burden for operators and to ensure efficient, fair and safe operations, it is crucial to put in place a transparent, harmonised, user-friendly system for obtaining permits.
(9) European Modular Systems (EMS) have been used and trialled at length and have proven to be an interesting solution to improve the economic and energy efficiency of transport operations, while ensuring road safety and protection of infrastructure, thanks to their confinement to adequate parts of the road networks. Given national specificities, different economic interests, transportation needs and diverse transport infrastructure capacities in Member States, they are best placed to assess and authorise the circulation of EMS on their territories. At the same time, to enlarge the positive socio-economic and environmental impacts of the use of EMS, it is crucial to remove unnecessary barriers to their use in cross-border operations between neighbouring Member States that allow such vehicle combinations on their territories, without limitation in the number of borders crossed as long as they comply with the maximum authorised weights and dimensions for EMS established by Member States within their respective territories. This is to ensure that EMS used in cross-border operations comply with the common lowest weight and dimension limit for EMS applicable in those Member States. In the interests of safety of operations, transparency and legal clarity, common conditions should be established for the circulation of EMS in national and international traffic, including providing clear information on the weights and dimensions limits for EMS and on parts of the road network compatible with specifications of such vehicles, and monitoring the impacts of the use of EMS on road safety, on the road infrastructure, on modal cooperation, as well as the environmental impacts of European Modular Systems on the transport system, including the impacts on modal share.
(10) Member States should continue to be allowed to run trials on a temporary basis. Indeed, new technologies allowing for in-motion charging, such as solar panels, pantographs and electric roads, or the progressive introduction of EMS in Member States, may require exceeding the maximum weights and dimensions in a testing environment, including in cross-border sections of the road network. Therefore, Member States should continue to be allowed to conduct such trials and be able to test the compatibility of new technologies and concepts across borders. The temporary and innovative nature of trials needs to be clarified by setting up a maximum period of time to conduct them. At the same time, the number of trials of new technologies and innovative schemes should not be restricted to avoid hampering innovation. Member States should regularly monitor and assess the performance and impacts of testing the new technologies and new concepts on road safety, on the road infrastructure, on modal cooperation, as well as the environmental impacts on the transport system, such as impacts on the modal share.
(11) The transport of indivisible loads carried out by vehicles or vehicle combinations exceeding the maximum weights or dimensions and the use of EMS, given their needs for additional safety features and for suitable infrastructure, require that special attention is given to elements such as transparency of relevant information, legal certainty and harmonisation of the permit processes. It is therefore necessary for Member States to establish a single electronic information and communication system containing all the relevant information regarding the operational and administrative conditions for the transport of indivisible loads and for the use of EMS, in a clear and easily accessible manner. This national system should also enable the operators to obtain the information and submit electronically the application, in a standardised format, for special permits for the carriage of indivisible loads in the Member State concerned.
(12) The artificial barriers to the cross-border transport of heavier lorries primarily used in long distance transport (such as vehicle combinations with 5 and 6 axles), should be removed in a harmonised way to take advantage in the short term of the operational, energy and environmental efficiency linked to the greater loading capacity granted by the Member States, including for intermodal transport. To effectively drive the transition towards zero-emission mobility, it is necessary to phase out the use of such heavier lorries running on fossil fuels, as of 2035, when the market penetration of zero-emission HDVs is projected to increase significantly up to around 50% of new HDV registrations. After the phasing out, heavier lorries should continue to be allowed in national traffic while, in international traffic, they should comply with the maximum authorised weights set up in Annex I to Directive 96/53/EC, which limits the extra weight allowance to zero-emission vehicles and to vehicles involved in an intermodal transport operation.
(13) The proof of compliance of vehicles with the values set out in Directive 96/53/EC should contain comprehensive information in accordance with the updated Union’s rules on uniform procedures and technical specifications for the type-approval of vehicles. The references to the applicable Union rules should therefore be updated, in order to include a specific reference to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/53542. The information that should be included in the proof of compliance should further be aligned with the maximum weights authorised under Directive 96/53/EC. Controlling intermodal nature of a transport operation, as defined in Article 2, can be particularly challenging in non-containerised transport. To ensure that extra weight allowance for heavy-duty vehicles involved in intermodal transport operations is used appropriately it is necessary that operators provide a proof of intermodal nature of the operation. The platforms for digital transport data established pursuant Regulation (EU) 1056/2020 of the European Parliament and of the Council43 (‘eFTI platforms’) provide a suitable tool as they are built to include the regulatory information requirements, set in Article 3 and 7 of Directive 92/106/ECC. Therefore, the use of an eFTI platform should be made mandatory to record and make available relevant transport information, with regards to transport modes used to carry the cargo.
(14) Vehicle carriers with open bodies have very limited potential to reduce their energy consumption via improved aerodynamics. Diverging national rules on the overhanging of loads on vehicle carriers cause distortions of competition and limit significantly their potential to improve operational efficiency and energy performance in international traffic. Therefore it is necessary to harmonise rules on the overhanging of loads of vehicle carriers with open bodies, so as to ensure that these objectives are properly met.
(15) Heavy-duty vehicles with elongated cabs have started making their entrance on the market, paired with zero-emission propulsion systems. Using zero-emission propulsion systems requires, depending on the technology, extra space which should not be counted at the expense of the effective load of the vehicle, so that the zero-emission road transport sector is not penalised in economic terms. It should thus be clarified that the excess in the maximum lengths provided for the elongated cabs can be such that it provides space needed for accommodating zero-emission technology, such as batteries and hydrogen tanks, provided that the safety, efficiency and comfort features of aerodynamic cabs are not jeopardized.
(16) Similarly to the need for extra space, current standards are also not suitable to compensate for the extra weight of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, in particular in long distance transport. Additional weight and axle weight are necessary for zero-emission vehicle combinations, as well as to the most common passenger vehicles in use in the Union. Lighter technologies and better aerodynamics will render the use of zero-emission propulsion systems more efficient (for example, to allow for longer range travelled and longer battery life) by reducing their energy consumption. To provide additional incentives to the deployment of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, to promote technological development, as well as the equipment of vehicles with improved aerodynamics, extra weight allowances should therefore be disconnected from the weight of the zero-emission technology.
(17) Effective, efficient, and consistent enforcement of the rules is of utmost importance to ensure undistorted competition between operators and eliminate risks to road safety and to road infrastructure posed by vehicles unlawfully exceeding the applicable weights or dimensions. To better target roadside controls at overloaded vehicles, and if they choose to use automatic systems on the road infrastructure, Member States should ensure as a minimum the deployment of such systems in the trans-European road transport network. Moreover, for reliability and consistency of the enforcement across the Union, the mandatory minimum level of controls to be performed by Member States should be established in proportion to the level of traffic on their territories by the vehicles within scope of this Directive, including an appropriate number of controls during night hours.
(18) To further step up enforcement and monitoring of the circulation of heavy-duty vehicles on the Union’s roads, reduce congestion, enhance road safety, reduce risks of damage to infrastructure and promote sustainable transport operations, Member States should be encouraged to establish Intelligent Access Policy schemes that ensure compliance with rules on the maximum authorised weights and dimensions. When establishing such schemes, Member States should apply minimum common requirements to guarantee harmonisation and interoperability across de EU, in particular as regards accessibility and format of relevant data to be exchanged. The schemes should help to ensure that the right vehicle with the right cargo, operates on the right road, and at the right time to secure minimum impact on environment, infrastructure, human health and safety, and society. The establishment of such schemes should make use of advanced intelligent transport systems, such as vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, vehicle-to-network communication, real-time data sharing and remote monitoring, in order to ensure safe and smooth traffic of heavy-duty vehicles and they should not lead to disproportionate or discriminatory traffic restrictions.
(19) To promote the growth of multimodal transportation system, containerised transport should be further facilitated by allowing extra height to road vehicles to transport high-cube containers.
(20) The European Parliament and the Council should be regularly informed of the results of the checks of compliance carried out by the Member States’ competent authorities, on the deployment and the use of enforcement tools and monitoring systems, in particular in the context of assessing the operational, safety and environmental impacts of the use of heavier and/or longer vehicles, including modular vehicle combinations. This information, provided by the Member States, should enable the Commission to monitor the market developments and compliance with Directive 96/53/EC. To facilitate for Member States the submission of the necessary information to the Commission and to ensure uniformity and comparability of data, enabling to monitor compliance and evaluate the overall performance of Directive 96/53/EC, it is desirable that the Commission establishes a uniform user-friendly reporting format.
(21) To enable a swift response of the road transport sector to any crisis, such as natural disasters, pandemics, military conflicts or infrastructure failures, there is a need to introduce an emergency clause to Directive 96/53/EC, which enables temporarily the circulation of heavy-duty vehicles exceeding the maximum permitted weights and/or dimensions, in order to ensure a continued supply of necessary goods and services. Such exceptional clause should be applied only where the public interest requires it, and provided that road safety is not thereby jeopardised.
(22) In order to ensure that the monitoring systems to be set up by the Member States for assessing the impacts of EMS and trials comply with minimum harmonised requirements, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission to supplement Directive 96/53/EC in respect of determining the minimum sets of data and/or performance indicators to be provided by those monitoring systems. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 201644. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
(23) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Directive, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to establish a common standard application form and harmonise the rules and procedures for the issuing of national permits or similar arrangements for vehicles or vehicle combinations which exceed the maximum weights and/or dimensions and are intended to carry indivisible loads, to establish a standard reporting format for Member States to comply with their reporting obligations, and to establish temporary exceptions from the application of the weights and dimensions limits used in international traffic between Member States affected by a crisis. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council45.
(24) Taking into account the many amendments to Annex I to Directive 96/53/EC relating to the need to provide additional incentives to the deployment of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, to the need to harmonise the maximum weight of 5-axle motor vehicles and to the need to promote intermodal transport, it is appropriate, for reasons of clarity, to replace it.
(25) In order to add the information requested under Directive 96/53/EC to the scope of Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 that Regulation needs to be amended.
(26) Since the objectives of this Directive, namely ensuring road safety, fostering sustainable and efficient transport operations, and promoting the functioning of the internal market, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather, by reasons of the cross-border nature of road transport and of the problems this Directive is intended to address, be better achieved at the Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.
(27) In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 September 2011 of Member States and the Commission on explanatory documents46, Member States have undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the components of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of such documents to be justified.
(28) Directive 96/53/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.