26Recitals 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 13 to 15, 17 to 19, 23, 27, 34 and 36 of Regulation 2020/1054 are worded as follows:(1) Good working conditions for drivers and fair business conditions for road transport undertakings are of paramount importance to creating a safe, efficient and socially accountable road transport sector in order to ensure non-discrimination and to attract qualified workers. To facilitate that process it is essential that the Union social rules on road transport are clear, proportionate, fit for purpose, and are easy to apply and to enforce and implemented in an effective and consistent manner throughout the Union.(2) Having evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of the current set of Union social rules in road transport, and in particular Regulation [No 561/2006], certain deficiencies were identified in the implementation of that legal framework. Unclear rules on weekly rest periods, resting facilities and breaks in multi-manning, as well as the absence of rules on the return of drivers to their home, have led to diverging interpretations and enforcement practices in the Member States. Several Member States have recently adopted unilateral measures further increasing legal uncertainty and the unequal treatment of drivers and operators. However, the maximum driving periods per day and per week are effective in improving the social conditions of drivers and road safety in general. Unremitting efforts are necessary to ensure compliance.…(4) The ex post evaluation of Regulation [No 561/2006] confirmed that the inconsistent and ineffective enforcement of the Union social rules was mainly due to unclear rules, to inefficient and unequal use of the control tools and to insufficient administrative cooperation between the Member States.…(6) Clear, suitable, proportionate and evenly enforced rules are also crucial for achieving the policy objectives of improving working conditions for drivers, and in particular ensuring undistorted and fair competition between operators and contributing to road safety for all road users.…(8) Drivers engaged in long-distance international transport of goods spend long periods away from their homes. The current requirements on the regular weekly rest may prolong those periods unnecessarily. It is thus desirable to adapt the provisions on the regular weekly rest periods in such a way that it is easier for drivers to carry out international transport operations in compliance with the rules and to reach their home for their regular weekly rest period, and be fully compensated for all reduced weekly rest periods. ……(13) In order to promote social progress, it is appropriate to specify where the weekly rest periods may be taken, ensuring that drivers enjoy adequate rest conditions. The quality of accommodation is particularly important during the regular weekly rest periods, which the driver should spend away from the vehicle’s cabin in a suitable accommodation, at the cost of the transport undertaking as an employer. In order to ensure good working conditions and the safety of drivers, it is appropriate to clarify the requirement for drivers to be provided with quality and gender-friendly accommodation for their regular weekly rest periods if they are taken away from home.(14) It is also necessary to provide for transport undertakings to organise the work of drivers in such a way that periods away from home are not excessively long and that drivers can benefit from long rest periods taken in compensation for reduced weekly rest periods. Organising the return should allow reaching an operational centre of the transport undertaking in its Member State of establishment or the driver’s place of residence, and the drivers are free to choose where to spend their rest period. In order to demonstrate that the transport undertaking fulfils its obligations regarding the organisation of the regular return, the transport undertaking should be able to use tachograph records, duty rosters of the drivers or other documentation. Such evidence should be available at the transport undertaking’s premises to be presented if requested by control authorities.(15) While regular weekly rest periods and longer rest periods cannot be taken in the vehicle or in a parking area, but only in suitable accommodation, which may be adjacent to a parking area, it is of utmost importance to enable drivers to locate safe and secure parking areas that provide appropriate levels of security and appropriate facilities. The Commission has already studied how to encourage the development of high-quality parking areas, including the necessary minimum requirements. The Commission should therefore develop standards for safe and secure parking areas. Those standards should contribute to promoting high-quality parking areas. The standards may be revised in order to cater for better access to alternative fuels, in line with policies developing that infrastructure. It is also important that parking areas are being kept free from ice and snow.…(17) It is in the interests of road safety and enforcement that all drivers should be fully aware of the rules on driving and rest times and of the dangers of fatigue. Easily accessible information on available rest facilities is of importance in this regard. Therefore, the Commission should provide information on safe and secure parking areas through a user-friendly website. That information should be kept up to date.(18) In order to ensure the continued safety and security of parking areas, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 [TFEU] should be delegated to the Commission in respect of establishing standards for the level of service in safe and secure parking areas and procedures for the certification of the safety and security of parking areas. …(19) The revised TEN-T guidelines established by Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council [of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU (OJ 2013 L 348, p. 1) (“the TEN-T Regulation”)] envisage the development of parking areas on motorways approximately every 100 km to provide commercial road users with parking space that has an appropriate level of safety and security. In order to accelerate and promote the construction of adequate parking infrastructure, it is important that sufficient opportunities for co-funding by the Union are available in accordance with current and future Union legal acts establishing the conditions for that financial support.…(23) Member States should take all measures necessary to ensure that national rules on penalties applicable to infringements of Regulation [No 561/2006] and Regulation [No 165/2014] are implemented in an effective, proportionate and dissuasive manner. ……(27) The cost-effectiveness of enforcement of the social rules, the rapid development of new technologies, the digitalisation throughout the Union economy and the need for a level playing field among companies in international road transport make it necessary to shorten the transitional period for the installation of smart tachographs in registered vehicles. Smart tachographs will contribute to simplified controls and thus facilitate the work of national authorities.…(34) It is important that transport undertakings established in third countries are subject to rules which are equivalent to Union rules when performing road transport operations in the territory of the Union. The Commission should assess the application of this principle at Union level and propose adequate solutions to be negotiated in the context of the European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles Engaged in International Road Transport (“AETR Agreement”).…(36) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to improve road safety and working conditions for drivers within Union through the harmonisation of the rules on driving times, breaks and rest periods in road transport and the harmonisation of the rules on the use and enforcement of tachographs cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather, by reason of the nature of the objectives, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 [TEU]. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.’
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