“The changes will give the police and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration a new tool to control and react to infringements in commercial transport. This sends a clear signal that we do not want violations of the cabotage rules in Norway, among other things”, says Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård, as quoted in the official government announcement.
The Norwegian government has announced that, from 1 March, inspection authorities will be able to charge for certain violations of commercial transport regulations.
Up to now, fines for infringements of specific regulations concerning, among other things, cabotage in road haulage have been imposed through procedures. From 1 March, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration will be able to impose fines on the spot for certain infringements.
Inspectors will be able to impose fines during inspections for infringements of several specific cabotage rules in the carriage of goods, for failure to hold a driving licence and for failure to hold a licence during carriage.
“In cases where a haulier does not have a licence document or a driver card, an infringement fee of NOK 60,000 (approx. €5300 – editor’s note) may be charged,” reads the announcement.
Despite the new powers of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, administrative proceedings will continue to be initiated in cases of serious infringements.
“It is not worth breaking the rules. Both the government and the Storting want to see higher fines for commercial transport offences. This is to ensure that more people keep to the rules and that there is an effective response when rules are broken,” says Nygård.
These are the violations of the cabotage regulations that the Norwegian Public Roads Administration will be able to penalise during roadside checks from March:
- if it is not possible to document the international journey to Norway,
- if cabotage has been carried out more than seven days after the end of the last international journey,
- where more than three cabotage operations have been carried out under a Community authorisation following an international carriage,
- where more than one transit cabotage operation has been performed,
- if the transit cabotage has been carried out more than three days after arrival in Norway unladen,
- if the consignment note is incomplete
- if the consignment note/documentation for national transport is missing from the vehicle,
- if the cabotage began before the international transport was unloaded.