Photo: Tomas Čekanavičius, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

EU ready to sue countries over non-compliance with posted driver rules

The European Commission is ready to initiate infringement procedures against countries that haven't implemented the rules on posted drivers, states a letter the EU sent to member states. Moreover, “imposing the use of national systems to submit posting declarations is in violation of EU law," warns the commission.

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The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has revealed a letter by European Commission Director-General Henrik Hololei, in which he clearly states that the EC is ready to initiate infringement procedures for non-communication or non-compliance against member states that haven’t implemented the rules on posting drivers.

“In the absence of national transposition measures, imposing on foreign operators national administrative requirements and control measures with respect to the posting of drivers not in line with the EU rules, and in particular imposing the use of national systems to submit posting declarations, is in violation of EU law,” the letter warns.

The latest EU regulations on posted drivers entered into force on 2 February 2022. According to the rules, hauliers must report the posting of drivers in a special interface for carriers connected to the IMI Internal Market Information System and they must pay drivers at least the full minimum wage applicable in each member state while they are working there.

By the time the regulation entered into force, all EU countries should have notified the commission of the measures fully transposing the provisions of Directive (EU) 2020/1057 into their national legal framework.

Apart from the legislative issues, the EC is also concerned about administrative issues:

As of 2 February 2022, the EU Portal for posting declarations must be the only obligatory system that road transport operators may be required to use to send declarations when posting their drivers to other Member States,” the EC reminds countries.

According to IRU, most of the EU countries have still not transposed the EU provisions into national law.

“The current ambiguity caused by the delay in transposition and information creates legal, operational and financial uncertainty, which is counterproductive for employers and drivers alike,” commented IRU on the EC letter.


Photo: Tomas Čekanavičius, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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