Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Introduction

The Weights and Dimensions Directive, originally adopted in 1996 and subsequently amended in 2002 and most recently in 2015, sets out the maximum permitted weights and dimensions of commercial heavy-duty vehicles (carrying goods or passengers) that can circulate in the Union, while allowing for national derogations to take account of the specific national context. These common standards aim to ensure that heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) do not exceed limits that can compromise road safety, infrastructure and the environment. The common rules also aim to facilitate cross-border transport and ensure that road transport operators can compete on equal footing in the internal market in terms of the loading capacity of their vehicles. Last but not least, the Directive strives to foster the efficiency of transport operations and thereby reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from those operations.

However, a recent evaluation of the Directive shows important shortcomings. In the first place, the national derogations allowing the circulation of vehicles with other dimensions have resulted in a patchwork of diverging rules, hindering seamless cross-border transport in the EU, fragmenting the internal market and leading to loss of operational efficiency. Secondly, the mix of EU and national requirements, as well as bilateral arrangements, coupled with legal uncertainties, has led to ineffective and inconsistent enforcement of the rules, especially concerning cross-border transport, resulting in an uneven level playing field for transport operators. Furthermore, the Directive has hitherto under-performed on its decarbonisation aspects, providing insufficient incentives to improve the energy efficiency of road transport operations and to reduce GHG emissions. The failure to provide the necessary requirements in terms of additional weight and volume for new zero-emission technologies has contributed to the current limited uptake of zero-emission vehicles and impeded any meaningful contribution to the achievement of the European Green Deal objective of reducing the transport sector’s GHG emissions by 90% by 2050. Finally, the Directive does not sufficiently support intermodal transport neither does it appropriately encourage modal cooperation.

The Commission proposal

The Commission proposal aims at tackling these shortcomings, by focussing on three main pillars:

1) Enhance the sustainability of freight transport by removing regulatory and technical barriers and providing stronger incentives for the uptake of the zero-emission technologies and energy saving devices in the HDVs sector, as well as by ensuring intermodal compatibility and thereby facilitating and incentivising intermodal operations. More specifically, the proposal increases the maximum allowed (axle) weight for zero-emission and alternatively fuelled vehicles and the maximum allowed length of zero-emission vehicles. Furthermore, it supports intermodal transport by allowing intermodal operations additional maximum weight and height and by requiring high capacity vehicles to use standard units that are compatible with other modes;

2) Improve the functioning of the internal market and creating a level playing field by clarifying, and where possible harmonising, the rules on the use of longer and/or heavier HDVs in cross-border operations, while still catering for the necessary flexibility for Member States to set national rules in order to take into account differences in terms of geography, transport network density and spatial economic structure, among others. More specifically, the proposal introduces the possibility for Member States to allow, under specific conditions, the circulation of European Modular Systems (EMS), which are high capacity vehicles. Currently, nine Member States allow for the use of EMS in their territories and cross-border operations are conditioned to bilateral agreements but this is done in a fragmented way and without harmonised conditions. The proposal aims to clarify the conditions - with regards to road safety, fair competition and modal compatibility - for the use of these high-capacity vehicles for those Member States that wish to make use of them.

3) Make enforcement more effective and efficient in order to ensure a fair level playing field and increase road safety. More specifically, the proposal sets a mandatory minimum level of controls by Member States and aims to incorporate more elements of “smart enforcement” by encouraging Member States to use more Weight-in-Motion and Intelligent Access Policies technologies and by simplying checks on intermodal transport operations by making use of the exisitng Electronic Freight Transport Information Regulation.

The Rapporteur’s position

Your Rapporteur welcomes the Commission proposal. It forms part of the “Greening freight” package that aims to make freight transport more sustainable by improving the operational and energy efficiency of the transport sector, encouraging the uptake of zero-emission vehicles and promoting intermodal transport.

The road transport sector clearly brings substantial economic and social benefits in the EU. However, we should also recognise and reduce its negative impacts on the environment, infrastructure and road safety. Road transport leads to air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and noise. Too much road traffic can generate congestion and increase the wear and tear of infrastructure. It can also lead to accidents and injuries. For example, it is estimated that HDVs were involved in road accidents causing around 3.000 out of the 22.800 fatalities on the EU roads in 2019 (i.e. approximately 13% of the total).

We should also keep in mind that the road sector is composed mainly of SMEs and is characterised by high competition and low profit margin. Furthermore, the EU is currently facing a systemic scarcity of professional drivers. Consequently, it is of the highest importance that the EU provides for a fair level playing field, for clear, harmonised, understandable and transparent rules, for targeted incentives to make the fleet more sustainable without reducing payload, for strict enforcement of the rules, for putting road safety on top of the priorities and for allowing, where possible and desirable, to make use of high-capacity vehicles.

With the above objectives in mind, your Rapporteur believes that the Commission proposal is a step in the right direction compared with the current situation. The evaluation of the current Directive clearly showed that it contains provisions that are open to interpretation or lack specificity in certain areas, and that it does entail an ample scope for national derogations. This led to inconsistent application across Member States, resulting in a fragmentation of the market, legal uncertainty, operational inefficiencies and an unlevel playing field. Furthemore, the ambiguity in the provisions created challenges for enforcement authorities, while diverging levels of enforcement have further exacerbated non-compliance and undermined the harmonization objectives.

Moreover, the current Directive proved ineffective in boosting the uptake of alternatively fuelled and zero-emission vehicles and the use of energy saving technologies and aerodynamic devices. It also was only partially effective in promoting intermodal transport. The current uptake of zero-emission vehicles in the truck fleet is very limited. To reach the same range as a diesel vehicle, zero-emission vehicles typically need a higher mass (battery electric trucks) or volume (fuel cell electric trucks). It is crucial, notably for SMEs, that the shift towards more sustainable vehicles is not negatively affected by a reduced payload. On the other hand, this additional weight should not compromise the maximum turning circle limits and should not become a risk for road safety.

For your Rapporteur it is clear that if the Union is serious about reducing GHG emissions from transport by 90% in 2050, road transport operations will have to become more efficient and significantly less emitting, and in parallel it is necessary to boost the modal share of more sustainable transport alternatives. This means that zero-emission vehicles must become the backbone of road transport if the sector is to reach its decarbonisation objectives. Also intermodal or combined transport is an important component in the transition towards a more sustainable heavy-duty road transport sector and for the transport system as a whole. This proposal will accelerate both these trends, but more is needed. That is why your Rapporteur proposes that by 2032, cross-border operations of 44tonne HDVs shall only be permitted by zero-emission vehicles. This will create a strong incentive to increase the market uptake of these vehicles and, by that point in time, a solid network of publicly accessible alternative fuels infrastructure will have been deployed, enabling the seamless circulation of zero-emission HDVs across the Union.

In parallel to the transition to a zero-emission transport system, we also need to ensure that the same load can be transported with less vehicles, less trips and less emissions. This could also help with the current lack of drivers. The Commission’s Impact Assessment shows that those Member States that have experience with high-capacity vehicles (European Modular Systems), have had positive results in terms of less accidents whereas no reverse modal shift has occurred from rail and/or waterborne modes of transport to road. Your Rapporteur proposes to strengthen the governance framework applying to EMS, with an ex-ante assessment considering the impacts on road safety, road infrastructure, modal cooperation and the environment. It is also proposed that Member States establish qualification requirements for the drivers of EMS, while ensuring proportionality, non-discrimination and mutual recognition between Member States. Finally, a dedicated EU web portal shall provide the public with clear and accessible information about the actual roads where these vehicles are allowed to circulate and about the national maximum authorised dimensions and weights of vehicles in Member States.

Your Rapporteur is convinced that the Union must further reduce road fatalities involving HDVs so that more European lives can be saved. Therefore, a single EU label shall clearly indicate the length of all the vehicles or vehicle combinations of this Directive in order to help other road users to identify and familiarise themselves with these vehicles and reduce any possible risks caused by visibility restrictions or blind spots, for example when overtaking.

As concerns enforcement, your Rapporteur sees room for improving the proposal. Therefore, it is proposed to make obligatory for Member States to instal certified weight in motion systems as well as to implement Intelligent Access Points. Member States should make use of the revenues generated from the penalties applicable to the infringements of this Directive to support the uptake of sustainable transport means, encourage intermodality and increase the sustainability of cross-border transport operations.