In accordance with the amendment to the Road Transport Act, the National Electronic Register of Road Transport Undertakings (KREPTD) will be established in Poland by the end of November 2017. Although the system will be introduced in a few months, experts are already warning drivers and entrepreneurs about the consequences of committed offenses. The register will contain the names of individuals who have lost their good repute, as well as information on serious infringements recorded over the last two years.
The amendment to the Road Transport Act means that Poland is complying with European Union Directives. The European Parliament and the Council established that by the end of 2012, all member states were required to create and maintain electronic registers of road transport undertakings that hold an authorization to engage in the occupation of road transport operator. Poland is one of the last EU members to implement these regulations, but the launch of KREPTD will allow for the fulfillment of the set obligations. The register will be connected to the European ERRU (European Register of Road Transport Undertakings) network, which includes the systems of other member states. The database will contain information on:
– entrepreneurs who hold an authorization to engage in the occupation of road transport operator,
– serious infringements of the rules defining the obligations or conditions of road transport,
– persons who have been declared unfit to manage the transport operations of an undertaking – until their good repute is restored.
– The creation of registers in individual EU member states is a major step towards standardizing transport law across Europe. Poland is one of the last countries to introduce an electronic system. Currently, the exchange of information about infringements committed by Polish carriers abroad is carried out only via traditional correspondence. This significantly hinders communication and cooperation between international inspection services. KREPTD will significantly contribute to organizing the data transmitted between individual countries and will strengthen the principles of fair competition. However, entrepreneurs and drivers should remember that the register will contain information about serious infringements that led to a conviction or the imposition of sanctions within the last two years, as well as the names of persons who have been declared unfit to engage in the occupation of transport operator – says Mateusz Włoch, an expert at INELO.
Data on entrepreneurs who have obtained authorization to engage in the occupation of road transport operator will be public and available to all interested parties. The only exceptions will be the residential address and information about the date and place of birth. In the case of serious infringements and persons who have lost their good repute, the data will be made available only to authorized bodies. Applications for access to them may be submitted by: district governors (starostas), provincial road transport inspectorates, provincial police commanders, the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Guard, commanders of Border Guard units, directors of customs chambers, the Chief Labour Inspector, road administrators, courts, and heads of the Internal Security Agency.
Good repute – how not to lose it?
Both Polish and European law clearly state that an entrepreneur engaged in the occupation of road transport operator must meet the following four requirements:
– have an effective and stable establishment in one of the EU member states,
– be of good repute,
– have appropriate financial standing,
– possess the required professional competence.
The amendment to the Road Transport Act, in force since December 15, 2016, clearly defines changes in proceedings regarding the loss of good repute. Infringements that will be included in KREPTD in the future have been divided into three categories: most serious, very serious, and serious. It was also specified that three serious infringements of the law are equivalent to one very serious one, and in the case of the most serious ones, the procedure for the loss of good repute will be initiated automatically. The initiation of such proceedings may also take place when a third very serious infringement has been committed in a given enterprise within a year, calculated on average per driver, or in the situation of a final conviction for criminal offenses.
– The purpose of introducing these changes is to limit any doubts in the interpretation of the regulations. The current catalog of infringements has been formulated in a clear and understandable way. The most serious ones include, among others, typical manipulations used in transport, such as the lack of a tachograph or speed limiter, the use of illegal devices, or the use of a false driver card. On the other hand, we classify as very serious, among others, continuous driving time of more than 6 hours and making remuneration dependent on the distance traveled or the quantity of goods carried. The new regulations are an important step in the fight against these illegal practices. Manipulations still constitute one of the biggest challenges for the transport industry. However, it is worth emphasizing that the changes in regulations will protect drivers from working beyond their strength, which will contribute to increasing the safety of all road users – concludes Włoch.