Almost 500 hundred trucks and buses were checked by enforcement officers in southern Austria. The joint inspection resulted in 1451 identified offenses including multiple tachograph manipulation cases.
Inspection of heavy vehicles was organised in southern Austria, in Carinthia, in 25-26 September 2024. The European Labour Authority (ELA) enabled 19 German, Italian, Croatian, Polish and Slovenian officials to participate in the inspection side by side with their Austrian colleagues.
The focus of this inspection was to ensure road safety and respect of social rights of drivers. It was organised at an international transport hub in the border area between Austria, Italy and Slovenia. To this end, driving and resting times, manipulation of tachographs, posting situations as well as roadworthiness of vehicles were controlled. Austria invited officials specialised in tachograph manipulation from the other Member States to this inspection in order to jointly detect manipulation and other violations. Tachographs provide crucial data on driving and resting times. They also make it possible to check that correct wages are paid to posted and other drivers. Preventing data manipulation is thus instrumental to drivers´ social rights as well as to the safety of all road users.
ELA information leaflets were distributed during the inspection to drivers informing them about posting as well as driving and resting times regulations.
The joint inspection on road transport in numbers:
Drivers in the international road transport sector are highly mobile workers. They regularly cross borders, work in multiple Member States and their labour and social rights depend on legislation and collective agreements. Exchange of information, good cooperation and exchange of best practices between Member States are therefore essential.
Within the Framework of Action on Road Transport, ELA coordinates and supports cross-border roadside checks through joint and concerted inspections. These inspections enhance the cooperation between the authorities across borders, enables the sharing of expertise and best practices, and allows to jointly identify offenses during inspections.
The scope of activities that ELA covers includes the social aspects of international road transport, specifically the Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the Directive 2006/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and the Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
