EC digital tachograph review must adopt effective but cost-efficient security enhancements and focus on reducing operational and administrative burdens for road transport.

Brussels – Further to the new European Commission proposal to amend the current EU Tachograph Regulation (3821/85/EC), the IRU calls for proportionate security enhancements at a reasonable cost to prevent tachograph fraud, as well as better targeted enforcement linked to tougher sanctions for those found guilty of genuine tachograph fraud, stressing that beating tachograph fraud is essential for the future sustainability of road transport services.

Indeed, the EC is relying too much on increasingly complex and costly technology, such as compulsory satellite positioning, which does not automatically deliver the required security results, and does not reduce the growing administrative burdens hampering efficient and safer road transport.

President of the IRU Commission on Social Affairs, Georges Causse, said, ‘’Without a tamper proof tachograph, we cannot achieve the safety and efficiency objectives which the digital tachograph was meant to deliver.  Moreover, the lack of effective enforcement distorts competition in the single market for the vast majority of transport operators who work hard to drive the EU economy and abide by the law. The EC should thus concentrate its efforts on targeting the small minority of operators who break the rules and tamper with the tachograph in order to eliminate the risks they pose to road safety."

The IRU thus strongly opposes the compulsory fitting of every device with satellite positioning as it will fail to make the digital tachograph tamper proof.  “If the will and capability exists to manipulate the digital tachograph, the same defrauders will not hesitate to block a satellite signal. The switch from analogue to digital brought about more complex technology, yet did not deliver security. More complex and costly technology will not stop determined rule breakers but rather more targeted enforcement and tougher sanctions for those found guilty of tachograph fraud will" Georges Causse argued.

IRU Head of Social Affairs, Damian Viccars, added, “The industry has long called for measures to reduce the operational and administrative burdens caused by the digital tachograph. The IRU welcomes some of the steps made by the EC proposal in this direction.”  These include the elimination of any need for paper letters of attestation to record drivers’ activities, creating a standardised ITS interface enabling the voluntary and cost efficient integration of the tachograph into an open telematics platform, and laying down a requirement that should lead to common training standards for control officers to increase the consistency and effectiveness of controls.

Read the IRU response to the Public Consultation

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