Road transport: Commission refers Spain to the Court for not complying with the rules on access to the occupation of road transport operator

The European Commission has decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to comply with the conditions which must be met by undertakings in order to operate in the road transport market. These conditions are laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009.

Road transport operators must have at their disposal one or more vehicles registered in the Member State of establishment. Spanish legislation, however, requires undertakings to have at their disposal at least three vehicles.

The Commission considers that this requirement is disproportionate and potentially discriminates against small hauliers, which very often have only one vehicle at their disposal, and are, therefore, excluded from the road transport market.

The European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to the Spanish authorities in February 2016. As Spain has failed to bring its legislation into line with EU law, the European Commission has decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the EU.

Background

EU road transport legislation aims at creating a level playing field for all road transport operators. Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 lays down four conditions which must be met by all EU undertakings which aim to operate in the road transport sector. Namely, they must:

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  Have an effective and stable establishment in a Member State;
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  Be of good repute;
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  Have appropriate financial standing; and
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  Have the requisite professional competence.

In order to fulfil the effective and stable establishment requirement, undertakings must have at their disposal one or more vehicles which are registered in the Member State of establishment.

More information:

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  On infringements in the area of EU mobility and transport.
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  On the key decisions of the November infringements package, please refer to the fullMEMO/16/3644.
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  On the general infringements procedure, see MEMO/12/12(an info graph).
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  On the EU infringements procedure.

IP/16/3651