Impact of the 1st mobility package on European Road Freight Transport

Within this study, TML reviewed the ongoing legislative process on the 1st Mobility Package, a set of measures targeting clean, competitive and connected mobility. The study was commissioned by LINAVA, the Lithuanian Road Carriers’ Association, and UNTRR, its Romanian counterpart.  The specific objective was to review the supporting documents of the policy proposals, with particular attention for the potential impacts of measures on the peripheral member states. At this time, when trialogue negotiations between the Commission, Parliament and Council are about to begin, many of the proposals, particularly from the latter two instances, are not sufficiently supported by the Commission’s Impact Assessments.
In the peripheral member states, a significantly higher-than-average share of the labour force is active in road transport, which makes them more susceptible to any impacts of the legislation – positive or negative.

Covered policy proposals include:

• The obligatory return home of the vehicle and its driver every 4 weeks
• Regular weekly rest ban in vehicles
• Application of new posting rules to drivers in international transport
• Restrictions on cabotage
• Issues with third countries

For most matters of these policy proposals, it was found that the Commission’s Impact Assessments do not cover all aspects of the policies’ impacts (including e.g. environmental aspects).  Furthermore, the proposals of the Parliament and Council differ from the options studied in the Commission’s Impact Assessment to the extent that their effects cannot be properly  estimated without additional research. Particularly regarding the effects on the road transport sector in peripheral countries with high shares of the labour force active in road freight transport, more insights are needed to come to well-balanced policies.