Karen Crispe – Tachodisc Ltd
This year will see the country host the Olympics Games and celebrate the Queen’s Coronation. It will also bring a tranche of new legalisation and further changes for the road transport industry; for reference here is a reminder of some of the key legislative dates for your diary.
Operator Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC): syllabus changes to the Operator Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) will commence following the changes made to the old syllabus on 4th December 2011. These now incorporate both National and International qualifications as one.
Nominated Transport Managers: new legislation (EU Regulation 1071/2009) is being introduced next year which will limit the scope of transport managers nominated on more than one licence. Under this new regulation, Transport Managers will not be allowed to be nominated on more than four O- licences and the overall total of vehicles authorised on those licences must not exceed 50.
Amendments to Annex 1B of the Digital Tachograph Specifications: In October 2012, in line with another revised digital tachograph specification being introduced, further amends to Annex 1B of the digital tachograph specifications will come into effect. This will see information from the motion sensor being checked against vehicle data, with any discrepancies logged as faults to detect tampering.
Digital Tachographs: Early this year we should also have further clarification on the changes being proposed for digital tachographs that are due to come into force in 2017 / 2018. The recommendations surround the need to increase the security and therefore the trustworthiness of the digital tachograph, and include:
• Merging the digital driver card with the driving licence.
• Extending the security encryption on both the driver card and vehicle unit.
• Adding a GNSS (GPS) module into the tachograph to record the start and end point of a journey.
• Incorporating functionality that would allow enforcement agencies to interrogate the digital tachograph remotely at the roadside without stopping a vehicle.
Proposals have also been submitted to allow members states to exchange information about driver cards. Revisions to legislation text and clearer definitions on the recording of daily and weekly rest for example, are also being discussed.
Tachodisc recently hosted a round-table debate with Motor Transport titled ‘What price the next changes to Digital Tachographs and Drivers’ Hours Law?’ This enabled operators to discuss the proposed changes with industry experts including David Glinos from the Department for Transport.
The report was featured in the 5th December 2011 issue of Motor Transport, and there are now plans to produce a White Paper from the discussions held, which will be released early next year.
Karen Crispe is Managing Director of Tachodisc Ltd. For further information visit: www.tachodisc.co.uk or www.asktachodisc.co.uk
Published: 25/01/2012
