Cabotage - unfair competition or an unnecessary obstacle to free trade?
Cabotage laws changed in May 2010 and this was heralded as providing a fairer more workable system.
Cabotage is essentially the carrying out of domestic haulage within one EU Member State by a foreign based operator.
A foreign haulier is permitted to enter the host Member State with a laden vehicle but once the load has been delivered, the haulier is only allowed up to three cabotage operations within seven days (from the last unloading of the incoming international transport). The onus is on the haulier to provide evidence that they are operating within the meaning of the cabotage rules and are not engaged in a permanent or continuous activity. This is a more restrictive regime than the one it replaces, but the idea is for there to be consistent standards which will be easier to enforce across the EU and reduce unfair competition. It appears that VOSA has yet to produce any guidance on Cabotage and at least in some respects other published guidance we have seen appears to have some interesting interpretations of the rules.
VOSA enforces the cabotage rules in the UK and since the new rules came into force VOSA includes cabotage compliance as part of their roadside checks of foreign trucks to ensure that they are not carrying out UK domestic haulage work illegally. Drivers breaking the EU cabotage rules will be issued with a fixed penalty of £200 at the roadside. This may be an effective deterrent in the context of general haulage but it is deterrent of questionable value in the context of high worth abnormal load projects such as the delivery of turbines, blades and towers to wind farm projects. If the value of a project is high, the risk of detection is low and the punishment relatively inconsequential, it must surely be a commercial risk worth taking for some operators? It does appear however that VOSA is considering other sanctions such as impounding vehicles it catches flouting the rules.
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