The CJEU annuls the rule of returning trucks to their country of origin once every eight weeks

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided last Friday to cancel one of the most controversial measures in the European Mobility Package: the obligation for transport vehicles to return to the company's operational center every eight weeks. This measure was heavily criticized by Romanian transporters and other Eastern European states, who argued that it would have a major negative impact on the transport sector. The CJEU decided to annul this provision, pointing out that the Union legislator did not have enough information to assess the proportionality of the measure. In the absence of a clear justification, this obligation was considered unfounded.

The obligation for vehicles to return every eight weeks to the company headquarters was introduced by the Mobility Package, adopted in 2020 by the Parliament and the Council of the European Union. This was contested by several member states, including Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta and Poland. The main argument brought by these states was that the measure will lead to an increase in the number of "empty journeys" and, implicitly, to an increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the road transport sector. For example, Romanian carriers would have had to travel approximately 1,300 kilometers more to comply with the new rules, while carriers from Poland, Slovakia and Hungary would have had shorter distances to travel. In total, the measure would have generated approximately 1,160 additional tons of CO2 emissions per day, which would have translated into 418,000 tons of CO2 annually, according to the estimates of the contesting states.

In addition to the ecological impact, Romanian carriers also estimated significant financial losses. A study carried out by KPMG in 2020, immediately after the adoption of the Mobility Package, predicted a decrease in revenues from international freight transport for Romanian companies by 4.5 billion euros. Also, more than 50% of the Romanian transporters carrying out international transport activities would have been forced to stop their activity or move their headquarters to other member states of the European Union, as a result of the new regulations.

Our country ranks 8th in the European Union in terms of the road transport market and holds important positions in cross trade (10.5%) and cabotage (8.2%) international transport operations. Road transport contributes approximately 5% to Romania's GDP and is an essential sector for the export of services, generating revenues of 22 billion euros in the last four years. Currently, in Romania there are 36,000 companies active in the field of transport, which employ around 250,000 professional drivers.