EU mobility has been simplified, but not significantly

The European Union’s Court has annulled a provision of the EU Mobility Package requiring vehicles involved in international transport to return to the country of registration every eight weeks. However, the Court dismissed other objections brought forward by Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, and Poland. These countries had challenged several key components of the Mobility Package, including:

  • Prohibition on weekly rest in vehicles: Drivers are barred from taking regular or compensatory weekly rest periods inside their vehicles.
  • Obligations for drivers to return to their place of residence every three or four weeks to take their weekly rest period.
  • Cabotage rules: a four-day waiting period after cabotage operations – domestic transport services carried out in a foreign country.
  • Posting of drivers: the Court upheld the classification of drivers as “posted workers” when carrying out cross-border operations, meaning they are entitled to the working conditions of the country where they are operating.

“This package of measures does not prohibit transport undertakings from exercising freedom of establishment by setting up subsidiaries in the Member States in which they intend to provide transport services,” the Court explained the decisions made.

Source: trans.info