Passenger Transport Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2022

L.N. 301 of 2022

AUTHORITY FOR TRANSPORT IN MALTA ACT

(CAP. 499)

Passenger Transport Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2022

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 43 of the

Authority for Transport in Malta Act, the Minister responsible for

transport, after consultation with the Authority for Transport in Malta,

has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Passenger

Transport Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 and these

regulations shall be read and construed as one with the Passenger

Transport Services Regulations, hereinafter referred to as "the

principal regulations".

(2) The scope of these regulations is to transpose Article 2 of

Directive (EU) 2020/1057 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 15 July 2020, laying down specific rules with respect to

Directive 96/71/EC and Directive 2014/67/EU for posting drivers in

the road transport sector and amending Directive 2006/22/EC as

regards enforcement requirements and Regulation (EU) No 1024/

2012.

Regulation 2 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a) immediately after the definition "designated person"

thereof, there shall be added the following new definition

" "Directive 2002/15/EC" means Directive 2002/15/

EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11

March 2002 on the organisation of the working time of

persons performing mobile road transport activities;";

(b) the definition "Directive 2006/22/EC" thereof shall

be substituted by the following new definition

" "Directive 2006/22/EC" means Directive 2006/22/

EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15

March 2006 on minimum conditions for the

implementation of Regulations (EC) No 561/2006 and

(EU) No 165/2014 and Directive 2002/15/EC as regards

social legislation relating to road transport activities, and

repealing Council Directive 88/599/EEC;";

(c) immediately after the definition "regular weekly rest

period" thereof, there shall be added the following new

definition

" "Regulation (EC) No 561/2006" means Regulation

(EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 15 March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain

social legislation relating to road transport and amending

Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/

98 and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85;";

and

(d) immediately after the definition "Regulation (EC) No

595/2009" thereof, there shall be added the following new

definitions

" "Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009" means Regulation

(EC) No 1071/2009 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 21 October 2009 establishing common rules

concerning the conditions to be complied with to pursue the

occupation of road transport operator and repealing

Council Directive 96/26/EC;

"Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012" means Regulation

(EU) No 1024/2012 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 25 October 2012 on administrative cooperation

through the Internal Market Information System and

repealing Commission Decision 2008/49/EC ("the IMI

Regulation");

"Regulation (EU) No 165/2014" means Regulation

(EU) No 165/2014 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 4 February 2014 on tachographs in road

transport, repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85

on recording equipment in road transport and amending

Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament

and of the Council on the harmonisation of certain social

legislation relating to road transport;".

Regulation 102 of the principal regulations shall be Amends

regulation 102

amended as follows

of the principal

regulations.

(a) in sub-regulation (1) thereof, the words "provided for

in the Thirteenth Schedule." shall be substituted by the words

"provided for in the Thirteenth Schedule:" and immediately after

there shall be added the following new proviso

"Provided that the Authority shall organise checks in

such a way that at least three percent (3%) of days worked

by drivers of vehicles falling within the scope of

Regulations (EC) No 561/2006 and (EU) No 165/2014 are

inspected.";

(b) in paragraph (c) of sub-regulation (2) thereof, the

words "their recording equipment." shall be substituted by the

words "their recording equipment:" and immediately after there

shall be added the following new proviso

"Provided that quayside and roadside checks in

compliance with Part XIV shall be limited to aspects that

can be checked efficiently through the tachograph and

related recording equipment, and comprehensive checks on

compliance with these regulations shall be carried out only

at the premises of the undertaking."; and

(c) immediately after sub-regulation (2) thereof, there

shall be added the following new sub-regulation

"(2a) The Authority shall target its checks at the

transport undertaking, if one or more of the drivers carrying

out international road passenger transport services for the

same transport undertaking and are found to be

continuously or seriously infringing Regulation (EC) No

561/2006 or (EU) No 165/2014."; and

(d) immediately after sub-regulation (4) thereof, there

shall be added the following new sub-regulations

"(5) The Authority shall submit information to the

Commission in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation

(EC) No 561/2006 and Article 13 of Directive 2002/15/

EC, which shall include the number of drivers checked at

the quayside or roadside, the number of checks at the

premises of undertakings, the number of working days

when inspections were held and the number and type of

infringements reported, and shall indicate whether

passengers or goods were transported.

(6) In order to facilitate targeted roadside and

quayside checks, the data contained in the risk rating

system shall be accessible to the competent enforcement

authorities in Malta which are concerned at the time of

control.

(7) The Authority shall make the information

contained in the risk rating system referred to in sub-

regulation (3), directly accessible to the competent

enforcement authorities of other Member States in

accordance with Article 16(2) of Regulation (EC) No

1071/2009, through interoperable national electronic

registers as referred to in Article 16 of that Regulation.".

Regulation 103 of the principal regulations shall be Amends

regulation 103

amended as follows

of the principal

regulations.

(a) paragraph (b) thereof, shall be substituted by the

following new paragraph

"(b) the records of the current day of the check and

the records of the twenty-eight (28) days prior, for any

cases where the passenger transport vehicle’s authorised

speed is exceeded, being any period of more than one (1)

minute during which the vehicle’s speed exceeds one

hundred and five (105) kilometres per hour for category

M3 motor vehicles;";

(b) paragraph (d) thereof, shall be substituted by the

following new paragraph

"(d) the correct functioning of the recording

equipment, thus determining the possible misuse of

the equipment and, or the driver card, and, or record

sheets, and, where appropriate, verification that the

posting was notified in accordance with regulation 6 of

the Posting of Workers in Malta Regulations;";

(c) in paragraph (f) thereof, the words "passenger

transport vehicles." shall be substituted by the words "passenger

transport vehicles;" and immediately after there shall be added

the following new paragraph

"(g) extended maximum weekly working times

of sixty (60) hours and other weekly working times as

set out in regulations 73 and 74, only where technology

enables effective checks to be carried out

"Provided

that

notwithstanding

the

foregoing paragraphs (a) to (g), during a roadside or

quayside check, the driver shall be allowed to contact

the operating centre, the transport manager or any other

person or entity in order to provide, before the end of

the quayside or roadside check, any evidence which is

found to be missing on board; and this without

prejudice to the driver’s obligation to ensure the proper

use of tachograph equipment.".

Immediately after regulation 103 of the principal

regulations there shall be added the following new regulation

103A. (1) Checks carried out at the premises of

internationally operating road passenger transport

services undertakings established in Malta, shall be

planned in light of past experience in relation to the

various types of transport and undertakings and the

checks shall also be carried out if serious infringements

of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 or (EU) No 165/2014 or

of these regulations have been detected during quayside

or roadside checks.

(2) Checks carried out at the premises of

internationally operating road passenger transport

services undertakings established in Malta shall, in

addition to the provisions of regulation 103, include a

check on the following

(a) weekly rest period and driving times

between these rest periods;

(b) observance of the two (2) weekly

limitations of driving times;

(c) record sheets, vehicle unit and the

information of the driver card data and printouts;

(d) compliance with maximum average

weekly working times, breaks and night work

requirements; and

(e) observance of the obligations of

undertakings as regards the payment for drivers’

accommodation and the organization of the work of

drivers.

(3) The Authority may, if it deems it appropriate,

verify the joint liability of other instigators or accessories

in the transport chain, such as shippers, freight

forwarders or contractors, if an infringement is detected,

including verification that contracts for the provision of

transport permits compliance with Regulations (EC) No

561/2006 and (EU) No 165/2014.".

Immediately after regulation 104 of the principal Adds new

regulations there shall be added the following new regulations

104A. (1) The Authority shall, at least six (6)

times per year, carry out concerted roadside or quayside

checks, on drivers and vehicles falling within the scope

of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 or (EU) No 165/2014.

(2) The Authority shall organize additional

concerted checks at the premises of the undertaking;

(3) The concerted checks referred to in sub-

regulations (1) and (2) shall be carried out at the same

time by the enforcement authorities of two (2) or more

Member States, each operating in its own territory.

104B. The Authority shall be responsible for

intracommunity liaison and shall have the following

functions

(a) to ensure coordination with the

competent enforcement authorities in the other

Member States concerned as regards actions taken

on concerted quayside and roadside checks;

(b) to forward the biennial statistical

returns to the Commission in accordance with

Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006;

(c) to be primarily responsible for assisting

the competent authorities of other Member States;

and

(d) to ensure exchange of information with

the other Member States in accordance with

regulation 104C with regard to the application of

these regulations.

104C. (1) Information made available bilaterally

in accordance with Article 22(3) of Regulation (EC) No

561/2006 shall also be exchanged between the Authority

and the competent enforcement authorities of other

Member States and notified to the Commission in

accordance with regulation 104B

(a) at least once every six (6) months after

2nd February 2022;

(b) upon the reasoned request by a Member

State in individual cases.

(2) The Authority shall provide the information

requested by another Member State pursuant to sub-

regulation (1)(b) within twenty-five (25) working days

from the receipt of the request, unless a shorter

timeframe is agreed between the Member States. In

urgent cases or in cases requiring only a simple

consultation of registers, such as registers of a risk rating

system, the requested information shall be provided

within three (3) working days

Provided that where the Authority considers

that the request is insufficiently reasoned, it shall inform

the requesting Member State accordingly, within ten (10)

working days from the receipt of the request, and

instruct that Member State to further substantiate the

request. Where the requesting Member State is unable to

further substantiate the request, the Authority may reject

the request

Provided further that, where it is difficult or

impossible to comply with a request for information or

to carry out controls, inspections or investigations, the

Authority shall inform the requesting Member State

accordingly within ten (10) working days from the

receipt of the request and provide reasons to duly justify

that difficulty or impossibility. Every effort shall be

made with a view of finding a solution.

(3) The exchange of information provided for in

this regulation shall be implemented through the Internal

Market Information System ("IMI"), established by

Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012, unless such information

is being exchanged by Member States through direct

consultation of national electronic registers referred to in

Article 16(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009.".

€0.63