EU Council Regulations 3820/85 and 3821/85 were introduced in 1985 to promote safety for drivers and other road users. These regulations concern the use of tachograph in heavy goods vehicles and large public service vehicles and lay down maximum driving times, minimum rest and break periods.
The general terms of the regulations are as follows: driving is limited to nine hours per day but this may be extended twice in any one week to ten hours; a break of 45 minutes in respect of each 4.5 hours driving which may be replaced by breaks of at least 15 minutes each distributed over the driving period; a weekly rest of 45 hours which may in certain circumstances be reduced to 36 hours at base or 24 hours away from base provided compensatory rest is provided in the following week.
All EU member states are obliged to comply with the regulations. It is the responsibility of operators to organise work in such a way that drivers are able to comply with the provisions of the regulations. Drivers have responsibility to plan their journeys so as to ensure that they take adequate rests in accordance with Regulation 3820/85.
The EU tachograph and driving regulations are currently being reviewed on a community wide basis by a working party under the auspices of the EU Commission. This detailed review will take some time and will consider such topics as the impact of technology in the transport area and the exemptions currently in place. Enforcement officers from my Department are taking an active part in this review.
My Department is responsible for the enforcement of European Union regulations concerning tachographs in heavy goods vehicles and bus passenger vehicles. Member states are obliged under EU law to undertake a minimum number of inspections on an annual basis. My Department has a transport inspectorate who are engaged full time on the detection and prosecution of breaches of the tachograph regulations and other offences under the Road Transport Acts. Where serious contraventions of the regulations are detected prosecutions are initiated in accordance with the regulations. A person guilty of an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both fine and imprisonment.
