The European Commission approved Bulgaria's requests for temporary exceptions to the rules in international road transport

The European Commission approved Bulgaria's requests for temporary exceptions (derogation) to the rules in international road transport. This was announced during today's videoconference of transport ministers of the European Union on the impact of COVID-19 on the transport sector.

At the proposal of the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Rossen Jeliazkov and in order to be avoided the imposing of different rules on the countries, the European Commission adopted the approach, which is successfully applied in Bulgaria, in the field of road transport. A change in the daily driving time is being introduced, increasing from 9 hours to 11 hours. The driving periods between which the driver takes a continuous rest period of at least 45 minutes, increase from four and a half hours to five and a half hours.

Drivers will be able to take two consecutive reduced weekly breaks of at least 24 hours under the following conditions:

  • the driver takes at least four weekly breaks during those four consecutive weeks, at least two of which are regular weekly breaks;
  • compensation for these two reduced weekly breaks must be taken before the next rest period.

There is a possibility for the driver to enjoy normal weekly rest periods in the vehicle as long as it has adequate sleeping conditions for each driver and the vehicle is stationary.

On the issue of extending the validity of documents related to the provision of transport services, ministers agreed on the proposal to extend the validity of these documents by 6 months following the date of their expiry. This applies only to documents which expire from 1 March to 31 August 2020. This decision will be proposed by the European Commission to the European Parliament for adoption.

The European Commission has adopted a package of recuperative measures to support the transport sector. Similar legislative proposals will also be made at national level.