Cabotage in Europe and necessary documentation
The Community licence also allows, pursuant to Articles 8 and 9 of the Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009the activity of road haulage cabotage, i.e. the provision of services of carriage of goods by road for hire or reward within the borders of a Member State other than that in which the Community undertaking is established.
Cabotage differs from international intra-community transport in that it takes place entirely within the borders of a single Member State (other than that of establishment).
a) Limitations on cabotage activity
Road freight cabotage is only permitted on a temporary basis and remains subject to various quantitative restrictions
- The first limitation stems from the need for the presence of the vehicle within the host Member State to be justified on the basis of a previous international transport.
- The other (quantitative) limits differ depending on whether the host Member State is that of the destination of the previous international transport or is a different State.
- In the first case, para. I of Art. 8.2 of the Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 limits the overall duration of the cabotage activity to a maximum of seven days since the last discharge relating to international transport and sets a limit of three permitted operations in that time frame.
- In the second case, para. II provides that asingle operation within three days of entry of the empty vehicle in the territory of the host Member State, without prejudice to the possibility of carrying out two further operations in different Member States, and always within a maximum period of seven days from the last unloading relating to the international transport.
(b) documentation to be kept on board
Compliance with these quantitative limits must be rigorously documented. In Italy, annotations are no longer required to be made in a special report book. However, Ministerial Decree 03.04.2009, in accordance with Art. 8.3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009, continues to require the possession of documentation attesting to the incoming international carriage and showing, for each cabotage operation, at least:
- the sender's name, address and signature;
- the name, address and signature of the transporter;
- the name and address of the consignee as well as his signature and the date of delivery once the goods have been delivered;
- the place and date of acceptance of the goods and the expected place of delivery;
- the description of the goods and their packaging in common terminology and, in the case of dangerous goods, the generally recognised designation, as well as the number of packages, special marks and numbers on them;
- the gross weight or quantity, otherwise expressed, of the goods;
- the registration number of the motor vehicle and trailer.
The above-mentioned quantitative limitations and the related documentation obligation are waived if the cabotage activity is carried out in thecombined (intermodal) goods transport. Wishing to encourage intermodal transport as a possible remedy to the problems of road traffic congestion, environmental protection and traffic safety, European legislation has freed combined goods transport from any quantitative restrictions.
c) Combined goods transport
EEC directive no. 92/106, transposed in Italy by Ministerial Decree of 15.02.2001, derogates by virtue of the criterion of speciality from the general regulations on road haulage cabotage, removing all the quantitative limitations provided for by EC regulation no. 1072/2009 and by Ministerial Decree of 03.04.2009, provided that certain prerequisites for applicability are met. A fundamental prerequisite is, firstly, the combination of the mode of transport by land with rail and/or sea or by inland waterway. Secondly, the transported container must be twenty feet or more. Further prerequisites differ depending on whether the transport is combined ship-road or rail-road respectively:
- at combined road-ship transport, the stretch by ship must be at least 100 km as the crow flies, while the stretch by road must be at most 150 km as the crow flies between the point of beginning or end of the journey by road and the port.
- at combined rail-road transportthe rail route must be at least 100 km as the crow flies, while the road route must be the shortest distance between the place where the road journey begins or ends and the nearest appropriate railway station.
As far as combined rail-road transport is concerned, the term "appropriate railway station" Article 1 of Directive 92/106/EEC is applicable only to multimodal railway stations which, having regard to the circumstances of the case, are actually suitable as starting or finishing points for the rail journey. The conditions for the application of the special rules are therefore also fulfilled if there are other railway stations closer to the starting or finishing point of the road journey, but they are not actually functional for intermodal transport.
It is worth noting that It is up to the haulier to prove recurrence of the prerequisites for the applicability of the special rules on the combined transport of goods: in the absence thereof, the quantitative limitations for road cabotage and the related documentation obligation remain in place.
lawyer Luca Andretto
collaborator at Studio Dindo, Zorzi & Associates
