Another step towards transport reform

Revision of rules and regulations governing heavy transport in Europe moved a step closer on 7 October when the new European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism (TRAN) Committee voted to back them.

Measures include the long-awaited Europe-wide adoption of the standard Special European Registration for Trucks and Trailers (SERT) documentation for abnormal load vehicle registration. European abnormal road transport and mobile crane association ESTA has supported this for many years.

SERT would reduce the amount of paperwork and bureaucracy faced by the industry.

The permitting system is a big part of the reforms:

• a ‘one stop shop’ per country for permits
• standard application forms for permits
• electronic permits
• permitting systems in all EU languages.

Also, subject to the vote was harmonisation of escort rules and vehicle markings, plus a ban on language requirements for drivers.

All the above are in the revisions to the EU Weights and Dimensions Directive (96/53).

The 7 October meeting was held at unexpectedly short notice, ESTA said, with the vote seeing 30 of the TRAN Committee’s 46 members back it. This takes it to the next stage – negotiations with the Council – before its possible implementation.

Prior agreements

The revisions were agreed by the TRAN Committee and the European Parliament in March 2024 but further progress was stalled by the European elections in June and the post-election members of the new TRAN Committee had to decide whether to continue as before or to start the revision process again.

This vote means the process can now continue uninterrupted. It followed an eleventh-hour call by ESTA for its members to lobby their national representatives for support.

The Weights and Dimensions Directive sets maximum authorised dimensions of heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) used in national and international commercial transport and the maximum authorised weights of HDVs used internationally.

Having a set of maximum dimensions ensures fair competition as member states cannot restrict the circulation of vehicles, which comply with these limits from performing international transport operations within their territories, ESTA explained.

Ton Klijn, ESTA director, said, “This is very good news indeed and the revised directive includes measures that ESTA has been requesting for many years.

“There is still a lot of work to do to ensure that the measures are not diluted or even rejected during the final rounds of discussions.

“But it is clear that an increasing number of our politicians and regulators are beginning to appreciate the importance of our members work to Europe’s economy as a whole and are listening to our requests.”