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EUROPEAN
COMMISSION

Brussels, XXX
[…](2021) XXX draft

COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/...

of XXX

supplementing Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the

Council with regard to the establishment of standards detailing the level of service and
security of safe and secure parking areas and to the procedures for their certification

This draft has not been adopted or endorsed by the European Commission. Any
views expressed are the preliminary views of the Commission services and may not
in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the Commission.

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 EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. CONTEXT OF THE DELEGATED ACT

Safe and secure parking areas are essential to improve drivers’ working conditions by
allowing them to have a secure, safe and good-quality rest while having access to a minimum
level of services. The development of safe and secure parking areas is crucial for the
achievement of the objectives of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation
relating to road transport and amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC)
No 2135/98 and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/851, which aims to improve
working conditions and road safety.
Road transport drivers can be the victims of cargo crime incidents especially when they
transport high value goods. In addition, illegal boarding of immigrants on board of heavy-duty
vehicles along certain routes tend to happen on rest areas while drivers rest. Safe and secure
parking areas are therefore necessary to protect drivers from those threats but also for
businesses to protect their loads against cargo crime.
Safe and secure parking areas are also crucial to ensure good resting conditions to road
transport drivers. Guaranteeing the security of drivers while they rest is essential to ensure
that they rest free of stress and do not accumulate fatigue. This should also contribute to road
safety and prevent accidents due to fatigue.
The 2019 Commission Study on Safe and Secure parking places for trucks2 showed that cargo
crimes were, in the reference period comprehended in the study, more frequent than ever, and
that about 75% of these incidents are happening when heavy-duty vehicles are parked in
unsecure parking places.
This study also acknowledged the significant shortage of safe and secure parking areas in the
Union today, where only 7,000 parking spaces are available, while it is estimated that the total
demand of overnight parking for heavy-duty vehicles was of 400,000 per night.
As safe and secure parking areas remain too scarce, and the security and services provided by
existing facilities are often insufficient and uncoordinated, there is a need to establish
standards for safe and secure parking areas, and certification procedures for those same areas.
In view of all those elements, the co-legislators decided to empower the Commission to adopt
a delegated act on the development of standards and certification procedures for safe and
secure parking areas. For this purpose, a new Article 8a was added by Regulation (EU)
2020/1054 of the European Parliament and of the Council3 to Regulation (EC) No 561/2006,
according to which safe and secure parking areas in the Union shall comply with a number of
requirements in order to be considered safe and secure, concerning namely intrusion detection
and prevention, lighting and visibility, emergency contact points and procedures, gender-
friendly sanitary facilities, food and beverage purchasing options, communications
connections and power supply. The Commission should thus adopt a delegated act

1
OJ L 102 11.4.2006, p. 1.
2
European Commission (2019) Study on safe and secure parking places for trucks. Available at:
https://sstpa.eu-study.eu/download/19/final-report/1188/final-report-sstpa-28022019-isbn.pdf
3
Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2020 amending
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as regards minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving
times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 as regards
positioning by means of tachographs (OJ L 249, 31.7.2020, p. 1).

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 establishing standards which provide further detail on the level of service and security of
those areas, as well as the procedures for their certification.

2. CONSULTATIONS PRIOR TO THE ADOPTION OF THE ACT

The Commission discussed the draft Delegated Regulation with the Commission Expert group
on Safe and Secure Parking Areas for Trucks, during several meetings held between 2020 and
2021. This group comprises experts nominated by the Member States and experts from the
industry, which were carefully selected for their relevant expertise on this topic following a
call for applications launched on 20 December 20184.
The standards and certification procedures detailed in this act also build on the work of the
abovementioned 2019 Commission Study to define the requirements around the security and
the level of service of safe and secure parking areas. Key stakeholders from the road transport
and logistics sector were consulted in the framework of this study.
The consultations carried out by the Commission were conducted in accordance with the
principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-
Making5. The experts of the European Parliament were invited to all meetings of this Expert
group. In addition, the draft Delegated Regulation was subject to the Feedback Mechanism6.

3. LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE DELEGATED ACT

The structure of the new Delegated Regulation follows the requirements set out in the legal
basis for this act, namely Article 8a(2) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006. It is structured
around two main annexes, the first one detailing the minimum level of service and the four
different levels of security with which safe and secure parking areas must comply in order to
be certified as such, and the second one providing the rules on the certification procedures for
these parking areas. The Delegated Regulation also includes a revision clause, according to
which the Commission must assess, no later than four years after the adoption of the act,
whether the established standards and certification procedures should be amended in light of
the existing technological developments – including as regards the need to cater for better
access to alternative fuels – and in order to continuously improve working conditions of
drivers.

4
Call for applications for the selection of members of the group of experts on safe and secure parking
areas for trucks
5
OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.
6
See in https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say_en.

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 COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/...

of XXX

supplementing Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the

Council with regard to the establishment of standards detailing the level of service and
security of safe and secure parking areas and to the procedures for their certification

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 15 March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road
transport and amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and
repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/857, and in particular Article 8a(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council lays
down rules on driving times, breaks and rest periods for drivers engaged in the
carriage of goods and passengers by road in order to harmonise the conditions of
competition between modes of inland transport, especially with regard to the road
sector, and to improve working conditions and road safety.
(2) Road transport drivers must take daily and weekly rest periods in accordance with the
applicable rules. Some of these rest periods are frequently spent on the road,
particularly in cases where the drivers are engaged in long-distance international
transport operations. It is therefore of utmost importance that drivers have access to
parking areas where they can rest safely, with appropriate facilities for them to access
the services they need.
(3) Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the
Council provides a list of requirements that safe and secure parking areas accessible to
drivers engaged in the carriage of goods and passengers by road must fulfil, in relation
to the levels of service and security of such parking areas.
(4) A 2019 Commission study on safe and secure parking areas in the European Union8,
acknowledged the significant shortage of such facilities. It also came forward with
some proposals, including standards for safe and secure parking areas and certification
procedures.
(5) Given the current shortage of safe and secure parking areas in the Union, the
development of such facilities should be encouraged at Union level to ensure that road
transport drivers have access to safe and secure parking areas wherever they stop on
Union roads.
(6) To stimulate the development of safe and secure parking areas, it is necessary to
develop a common framework at Union level to ensure that the sector has access to

7
OJ L 102 11.4.2006, p. 1
8
European Commission (2019) Study on safe and secure parking places for trucks. Available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/default/files/2019-study-on-safe-and-secure-parking-places-for-
trucks.pdf

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 clear and harmonised standards when using safe and secure parking areas across the
Union.
(7) In order to improve working conditions of road transport drivers in accordance with
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, a minimum common level of services should be
available on all safe and secure parking areas, regardless of their level of security.
Appropriate parking areas should ensure that drivers have access to gender-friendly
sanitary facilities, food and beverage purchasing and consumption options, the
necessary connections to communicate, power supply and display emergency contact
points and procedures.
(8) In view of the increasing number of cargo crime incidents affecting road transport
drivers on the road, the security of road transport drivers must be enhanced to ensure
that they rest free of stress and that they do not accumulate fatigue. Providing good
resting conditions to drivers on safe and secure parking areas is crucial to ensure road
safety and reduce the risk of accidents due to fatigue.
(9) Safe and secure parking areas are essential for the drivers and transport undertakings
to protect their loads against cargo crime. Given the diversity of businesses and goods
carried, transport operators and drivers should have access to parking areas with
different levels of security on the basis of the goods they carry. The Union standards
should therefore cater for the different types of businesses, and parking areas should
provide different minimum levels of security.
(10) The security of parking areas should be achieved by ensuring that the appropriate
security equipment and procedures are in place around its perimeter, on the parking
area itself and at entry and exit points. Staff procedures should also be in place to
ensure that risk prevention measures are adopted, and to mitigate the consequences of
incidents when they occur.
(11) In order to provide transparency and certainty for users of safe and secure parking
areas, parking areas should be certified by an independent certification body,
according to procedures defined at Union level. Certification procedures on audits, re-
audits and unannounced audits for safe and secure parking areas should be clearly
specified to ensure that parking areas know how to apply for certification or re-
certification. It should also be ensured that adequate procedures are deployed when it
is found that a safe and secure parking area does not comply anymore with the level of
service and/or security to which it has been certified.
(12) Complaint mechanisms should be available to users of safe and secure parking areas to
report on non-compliance.
(13) Certification bodies should be able to issue audit certificates to the operators and also
to communicate this information to the Commission, so that the list of safe and secure
parking areas on the relevant official website can remain up-to-date.
(14) To take into account the fast development of digital technologies and in order to
continuously improve working conditions of drivers, the Commission should assess
the relevance of reviewing the harmonised standards and certification procedures no
later than four years after the adoption of this act.

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 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter
This Regulation lays down further detail on the standards to be complied with by the safe and
secure parking areas for road transport drivers referred to in Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC)
No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards their level of service
and security, as well as the procedures for the certification of such parking areas.

Article 2

Security and service levels

In order to be certified as complying with the Union standards set out in this act, the safe and
secure parking areas referred to in Article 8a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the
European Parliament and of the Council shall fulfil:
1. All of the requirements on the minimum level of service set out in Annex I, Section
A; and
2. All of the requirements of one of the security levels set out in Annex I, Section B.

Article 3

Certification procedures

The certification of safe and secure parking areas according to the Union standards set out in
this act shall comply with the requirements and procedures detailed in Annex II.

Article 4

Revision clause
No later than four years after the adoption of this delegated act, the Commission shall assess
whether the standards and certification procedures provided in Annexes I and II should be
amended in light of the existing technological developments, and in order to continuously
improve working conditions of drivers.

Article 5
This Regulation shall enter into force on the […] day following that of its publication in the
Official Journal of the European Union.

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 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels,

For the Commission

The President
[…]

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