Digital tachographs bulletin from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders.

—– Original Message —–
From: CV News Brief from the SMMT
To: List Member
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 5:12 PM
Subject: Transport News Brief digitach deal special from Robin Dickeson at the SMMT

Transport News Brief

Week 03 Wednesday 18 January 2006

Digitach deal special

Transport News Brief goes to over 28,000 named subscribers each week. An average of two or more ‘pass on’ readers for each subscriber suggests there are over 80,000 readers. Edited by Robin Dickeson at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Halkin Street, London, SW1X 7DS, England, tel +44 (0)2 073 449 222, it is free to the commercial vehicle and road transport industry, SMMT members and journalists worldwide.   Please e-mail Robin Dickeson on rdickeson@smmt.co.uk if you have news you would like us to see. If you would like copies sent to colleagues, please e-mail Natasha James on njames@smmt.co.uk. If you want your name taken off the list, please use the ‘Unsubscribe’ button at the end of the last page.

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Digitachs from May 2006

Digital tachographs will be law from May 2006, according to a letter this week from Jacques Barrot, EU transport commissioner.

M Barrot has just written to all EU transport ministers to say that the Commission accepts May 2006 as the latest deadline for the mandatory introduction of digital tachographs for ‘in scope’ vehicles. In practice this means almost all commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight.

He goes on to say that the Commission had wanted digitachs working in all newly registered ‘in scope’ vehicles from 1 January this year. But as the European Parliament and Council didn’t finally agree the changes to Regulation (EEC) n° 3820/85, which governs digital tachographs until early December, the Commission accepted that it will take a little longer to translate and publish the paperwork.

Barrot says this means old, analogue tachographs can be fitted to new vehicles until the new rules come into force, which will be 20 days after they are published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

‘This is good news in that it narrows the scale to May,’ said Robin Dickeson, manager, commercial vehicle affairs at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. ‘But sadly and typically, there is still an element of uncertainty, as no-one seems able to put a date on the publication of the Official Journal and that determines the precise date for the new law.’

‘Manufacturers, dealers and operators will be relieved that we have at least got a pretty clear idea of a date to aim for. For those with new vehicles due for delivery from April onwards, this is a wake-up call and probably last chance to change the specification to include a digitach. Once the deadline is passed, you won’t be able to register a new van, truck, bus or coach with an analogue tacho and someone will need to fork out over £1,000 a vehicle to get each one converted.’

‘And of course, operators need to ensure that drivers get the necessary Driver Cards in good time.’

More from Robin Dickeson +44 (0)2 073 449 222 or rdickeson@smmt.co.uk

Andrew Bentley, MInst SMM
Head of Vehicle Contracts and Marketing