As many as 130 participants, including the representatives of 43 various inspection agencies and ministries, as well as state authorities from 24 European countries, gathered at the inspection agencies conference. The meeting entitled Mobility Package and Posting Drivers, organized by Inelo Group in collaboration with the most important representatives of road transportation industry: CORTE association and the European Commission, took place late May. During the conference, speakers talked about the most important issues concerning transportation law, specifically the matters regarding the mobility package and driver postings. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, such initiatives are very important to the industry, as they help carriers meet the international operational requirements. They also set the direction of an unambiguous interpretation of the transportation regulations and their practical application – says Piotr Żółty from Inelo Group.
The following Inelo Group experts took part in the conference: Piotr Żółty, International Business Development Director; Małgorzata Pander, International Development Expert; Michał Franczyk, Enforcement Authorities and Export Sales Manager; as well as Bartłomiej Zgudziak, Deputy Chief Expert for Analyzes and Settlements Inelo. They were joined on stage by Romain Durand, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, and Rémy Russotto, CEO of CORTE.
– The aim of this year’s conference was to discuss the regulations regarding the mobility package and their interpretation by the inspection authorities. The event was focused on the matters connected with driver posting and the necessity of the implementation of new smart tachographs, which are soon to be mandatory for all carriers. During the conference, we also discussed the extremely important matters connected with DSRC technology. This area is especially interesting to inspection agencies, because the selection of particular vehicles for further control based on the remote reading of tachograph data makes inspectors’ work significantly easier. For us as a Group it is an equally important topic, because for two years now we’ve been supplying Tachoscan Control DSRC solutions to inspection agencies in many European countries – adds Piotr Żółty.
One of the most important areas discussed was the current implementation status of Directive 2020/1057 on posting drivers and of the IMI system. According to the European Commission, many countries are still at the stage of adjusting to the changes of the Mobility Package, and there are ongoing proceedings before Court of Justice of the EU against two of them (Portugal and the Netherlands) regarding the failure to implement the necessary changes in domestic regulations on driver posting in road transport.
– Driver posting is a subject which still causes a lot of doubts and generates questions among both transportation companies and inspection agencies. That’s why we discussed it extensively during a major part of our conference, especially that many countries are still facing the challenge of the new regulation implementation. Based on Inelo Group’s experience we showed the inspectors how we approach the working time settlements, what obligations Polish transportation companies servicing international routes have, and what they need to do if they want to report a posted driver. We presented examples of transportation companies which use our 4Trans program, so that they automatically settle any payments abroad. Thus, they not only save time but also have current information regarding the ever changing rates in particular countries, and they can take care of the correctness of driver compensation calculation – says Bartłomiej Zgudziak from Inelo Group.
Romain Durand, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport
(DG MOVE), discussed in detail which types of transportation are subject to driver posting and which are not, and Rémy Russotto (CORTE) presented the stages of road controls regarding employee posting. Romain Durand also discussed matters regarding new smart tachographs, which will be implemented as per the schedule – on 21 August 2023. He also explained the changes carriers need to prepare for and the new functionalities of smart tachographs, and he underscored their implementation advantages.
Michał Franczyk from Inelo Group, in turn, touched on the matters regarding remote reading of data with the DSRC technology, which allows downloading the most important parameters from smart tachographs without the need of stopping the vehicle.
– The experience of Inelo Group regarding DSRC technology reinforces our belief that inspection agencies are more than happy to use the capabilities provided by the remote smart tachograph data reading. Currently, 47 inspection agencies from 12 European countries are equipped with our Tachoscan Control DSRC module. What does it mean for them? In less than a second, the inspectors can download 19 different RTM parameters, shared by a smart tachograph from a vehicle passing by. As a result they are almost instantaneously informed about potential tampering in a given vehicle, and they can stop it for detailed control and downloading all the data from the tachograph, in order to confirm or exclude the violation. It is worth pointing out that from August on, when smart tachographs of the 2nd generation become available, 6 new parameters will be added to the catalogue, and as a result inspection agencies will be able to find out if a given driver exceeded the driving times – continuous, daily, weekly or even fortnightly, which can significantly increase road safety – says Franczyk.
Inelo Group activity within CORTE’s and European Commission’s structures
Inelo Group joined CORTE in 2011 and is the only Polish company in CORTE Management Board; we also advise the European Commission in matters vital to road transport. Inelo Group is represented by Piotr Żółty, International Business Development Director; Małgorzata Pander, International Development Expert; Mateusz Włoch, Training and Development Expert; Małgorzata Gandor-Trzensisko, Enforcement Authority Services Sales Manager; Bartłomiej Zgudziak, Deputy Chief Expert for Analyzes and Settlements Inelo; and Michał Franczyk, Enforcement Authorities and Export Sales Manager.
– Inelo Group’s activities within CORTE focus on the topics connected with inspection practices, especially in the scope of tachograph data analysis, driver cards and regulations concerning driver work-time-to-rest analysis, as we have experience in servicing inspection agencies by providing software for 43 inspection agencies across 23 countries. Within CORTE structures it is a group called Enforcement Working Group. We are also active in the group dealing with driver working time regulation, which results from the other area of our business, which is servicing transportation companies and equipping them with the necessary technology for the driver working time control. We also serve as an advisory body for the European Commission, which comprises inspection agencies, administration authorities and employer associations. We are very active in its official groups such as Posting Working Group, which focuses on the matters regarding driver posting and examination of cases of differences in the application of new regulations, and the Tachograph Forum, where we discuss technical matters regarding the operation and changes concerning tachographs – comments Piotr Żółty, Inelo Group.
