In August 2023, regulations on the posting of drivers in road transport came into force, which were supposed to bring the standards of the Polish transport market, in line with EU conditions through the implementation of Directive (EU) 2020/1057 of the European Parliament and the Council of July 15, 2020. While these regulations were supposed to strengthen control over third-country carriers, the reality is different. Carriers from outside the EU, with the exception of Switzerland, are required by the introduced regulations to inform the State Labor Inspectorate about the posting of drivers on Polish territory. A year after their introduction, the question remains: do the regulations really work, or is it just a facade that changes little?
Notification to the Labour Inspectorate (PIP) – a formality or a real control?
Third-country road carriers that post their drivers to Poland must meet a number of requirements for their operations to comply with Polish law. Among other things, the introduced regulations stipulate that the driver must be equipped with the appropriate documents confirming his posting. Each time before transporting a driver by road on Polish territory, the carrier must issue a confirmation of the driver’s posting. This document is drawn up on a form, which is specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of August 7, 2023. When performing transport on the territory of Poland, a driver posted from a third country must have in the vehicle:
1. a paper confirmation of the posting, according to the applicable form.
2. evidence of the road transport performed, such as waybills, relevant international transport permits or driving forms.
3. tachograph records in accordance with the AETR Agreement (European Agreement concerning the work of crews of vehicles engaged in international road transport).
The driver is obliged to show these documents at the request of the inspectors of the Road Transport Inspectorate during a roadside inspection.
Blind control – missing key tools
Doubts are raised primarily by Article 23 of the aforementioned law, which defines the scope of roadside control of the posting of drivers on Polish territory from a third country by Road Transport Inspectors. In theory, this control includes verification of the data contained in the documents presented by the driver, as mentioned above, but in practice the inspectors can only verify whether the driver has all the required documents, not whether they are correct. Thus, it can be concluded that, on the basis of the current legislation, the control of posted drivers on Polish territory from a third country cannot be performed correctly. It would be enough if the legislator gave the Road Transport Inspectorate inspectors access to the information provided to the State Labor Inspectorate, as is the case with the control of Member States by means of the Electronic System for Information Exchange in the Internal Market (IMI) in the “Transport” module – but for this a change in the legislation is needed.
Law change needed
The current legislation needs to be changed to allow the Road Transport Inspectors to carry out a real inspection. And although the Ministry of Infrastructure is said to be aware of the problem, changes in the regulations will not happen overnight. The introduction of a new IT system that would enable effective control involves costs and the need for a detailed analysis. And as we know, when costs and EU regulations are involved, there is no hope for quick changes.
Summary
The current regulations on the posting of drivers have serious loopholes that cast a shadow over the effectiveness of inspections. The regulations leave much to be desired. Without the ability of Road Transport Inspection Inspectors to verify notifications, it makes it impossible to reliably control third-country carriers. For the time being, the system needs decisive reforms so that it ceases to be a mere formality and begins to really work to protect the transport market.