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MOTORINDIA
l
May 2012
IRU calls for lifting road transport
barriers to drive EU growth
The General Assembly of the Inter-
national Road Transport Union (IRU)
has adopted a resolution on Driving the
Europe 2020 Growth Strategy, call-
ing upon the European Union and its
member-States to lift, without delay,
the impediments and barriers imposed
on the road transport sector and to rec-
ognise the vital role of road transport
in driving economic growth.
The IRU President, Janusz Lacny,
said: “The European Union’s 2020
Growth Strategy aims to create a
smart, sustainable and inclusive econ-
omy. Commercial road freight and
collective passenger transport have
a pivotal role to play in each of these
mutually reinforcing principles. To
ensure that the road transport sector
can play its role in driving EU growth,
it is imperative that road transport is
facilitated and further promoted, and
restrictive barriers on road transport
repealed.”
The IRU President added: “Through
simple measures the EU could help to
create up to 4 million new green jobs
in the bus and coach sector by adopt-
ing the IRU lead Smart Move cam-
paign goals and stimulating growth
and trade by freeing 600,000 road
freight operators from the constraints
of the T System by allowing the use of
TIR in the EU for goods transported
under customs control. Simple actions
can have a major impact in creating a
growing, dynamic, greener and more
efficient Europe.”
w
road transport
Mr. Janusz Lacny, IRU President
The IRU resolution specifically calls for:
• An end to the indexation and introduction of new taxes, charges and duties on
road transport and the earmarking of revenues to support investments in road
transport and infrastructure initiatives;
• Creation of a level regulatory playing field between transport modes in taxation,
excise duty, and VAT;
• An end to the continual subsidies for unprofitable rail freight services and to the
discrimination between modes, created by the railways, through the use of public
funding to purchase road transport firms;
• Adaptation of the legal framework to ensure a return on the investment in innova-
tion, efficient, clean and safe technologies, to encourage further innovation and
greening at source;
• Facilitation of access for road transport operators to investment funds for the
greening at source of their services;
• Modification of the EU Customs Code to allow the use of the TIR system in the
EU for goods transported under customs control and thereby releasing 600,000
road transport companies from the constraints of the current T system;
• An increase in the efficiency and capacity of the EU’s transport system by pro-
moting the use of the European Modular System (EMS) for all inter- and in-
tramodal applications;
• Promotion of an EU policy, based on the Smart Move principle objective of dou-
bling the use of buses and coaches within the next decade.