The mobility package will level off the conditions for road traffic in the EU9/7/2020|Press releasesOn July 9 the European Parliament passed an extensive reform package for road traffic in the European Union, known as the mobility package. The new rules will regulate access to the market for trucks, conditions for sending out employees in road transport and improve the conditions of drivers. Its aim is also to push through – in a more efficient way – rules that make traffic safer. On July 9 the European Parliament passed an extensive reform package for road traffic in the European Union, known as the mobility package. The new rules will regulate access to the market for trucks, conditions for sending out employees in road transport and improve the conditions of drivers. Its aim is also to push through – in a more efficient way – rules that make traffic safer. Having integrated contributions also of the Czech Republic, the package is actually a compromise. It was (together with such countries as Finland or Ireland) part of the so-called "Middle Group" that was standing between two different camps. On one hand, there were protectionist west European countries with high cost of drivers' wages that are protecting their national markers with restrictive legal measures (Loi Macron, MiLoG). The second camp were Central and South-Eastern countries where driver's wages are very low indeed. And west European transport businesses are often setting up the so-called "shell companies" only to exploit the low wages in there. The new rules will now bring a balance for these two groups and prevent unfair competition. What can be seen as the greatest success of the Czech Republic and its allies are changed to the drive regulations, the so-called "rounds". So how do they work? The drives loads goods in the Czech Republic and takes it to, say, Spain. Then, on the way back he/she does two different shipments. And this is the most frequent business model of Czech transport businesses. According to the new rules, the businesses must pay to the driver the minimum wage of the country they are passing. This obligation is not part of the package for bilateral transportation (e.g. Czech Republic – Germany – Czech Republic). The most disputable thing in the package was – in the eyes of its opponents – the compulsory return of the vehicle to the state where the transport company is settled, which shall happen every 8 weeks. As this contradicts the environmental policy of the EU, the European Commission committed to prepare a study about this. The European Commission proposed the mobility package already in May 2017. The EU Council issued a statement on the package in February 2020 and the European Parliament has now also identified itself with it. The package consists of two reviewed regulations and one directive. The regulations will enter into force 20 days after their publishing in the EU bulletin and the directive one day after its publishing. The member states then have 18 months for implementing them into their national legislation. They could be published in 4-8 weeks.