The Swedish government has decided on a number of new rules concerning cabotage transports, combined transports, transport customer responsibility for driving and rest times and posting of workers.
The changes that take effect already on 2 and 21 February 2022 mean in short that
- A foreign carrier shall be liable to a penalty charge for infringements of the four-day cooling-off period which, following an amendment to the relevant EU regulation, applies to cabotage operations. The cooling-off period means that carriers may not carry out cabotage operations using the same vehicle in the same Member State within four days of the last cabotage operation in that Member State. In addition, the cabotage rules will also apply to a road transport that is part of a combined transport. This means that a maximum of a total of three domestic transports may be performed in Sweden with the vehicle in question after it has arrived in Sweden and that these transports must be performed within a period of seven days. Furthermore, it must be possible to present such evidence that applies to cabotage transports for the road transports in question.
- The Swedish Transport Agency shall check that transport companies comply with the requirements of the EU Driving and Rest Time Regulation to pay for the driver’s accommodation in connection with a normal weekly rest and to organize the work so that the driver can return home regularly.
- Special provisions on the posting of drivers in the road transport sector will apply to drivers performing road transport and include, inter alia: that an employer must submit a declaration to the Swedish Work Environment Authority before a posting in Sweden to a foreign-established transport company begins. If the transport company is unable to present a copy of the declaration during a road inspection, a penalty fee may be imposed on the company. In the case of domestic transport, an advance for the fee shall be decided and the vehicle shall be prevented from continuing the carriage if the advance is not paid.
- A purchaser of a transport may be held criminally liable if a posting declaration has not been submitted. An investigation obligation is introduced for those who order a domestic transport directly from a transport company.
- Transport company shall organise its vehicle fleet’s activity in such a way as to ensure that vehicles that are at the disposal of the undertaking and are used in international carriage return to one of the operational centres in that Member State at least within eight weeks after leaving it.
