National solo runs burden Europe’s transport industry

Alexander Klacska /Austrian Economic Chamber: „Europe’s transport industry needs joint solutions that create sustainable growth“

Austria is celebrating its 20th anniversary as a Member State of the EU. „What should be a reason to celebrate lies in the shadow of recent trendencies of some Member States to reject the common European idea and do fight their own battle“, Alexander Klacska, President of the Transport Division of the Austrian Economic Chamber, claims during a press debate on 24 March.

Currently, every country was practicing its own transport policy, and it lacks a comprehensive concept for infrastructure to secure access to global markets, criticized the transporter entrepreneur. „Although there are actually harmonized EU rules for these areas, the Member States implement these requirements in a manner that makes the economy suffer,“ he added.

An administrative obstacle despite internal market is the Hungarian electronic control system for land transport (EKAER), where a complex reporting system had been set up. Also the differences in the handling cross-border VAT payments as in Slovenia, Croatia and Poland presents enormous problems, as well as the Italian SISTRI system, which requires registration of companies that carry hazardous special waste.

Also the sleep time regulations cause criticism: in France and Belgium the rest must not be passed in the truck cabin. In addition, Austrian training affirmations of professional drivers (such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland) are not recognized in some Member States. Different license numbers on driving licenses and driver cards cause problems with controls in some states.

Even the German minimum wage law (MiLoG) represents major challenges to the local transport industry. In addition to the obligation to pay wages this requires also comprehensive administrative reporting and the payment of making extremely high fines (up to EUR 500,000). „From our perspective, there is need for urgent action,“ confirmed Alexander Klacska.

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Quelle: LogEastics
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