Single Article - The Association of European Vehicle Logistics

Joint letter on the revision of the Weights & Dimensions directive

CLECAT — 2023-01-20

News from Brussels

On 17 January, CLECAT together with the European Express Association (EEA), the European Shippers’ Council (ESC) and the European Transport Board (ETB) send a joint letter to EC Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Commissioner Adina Valean on the revision of the Weights and Dimensions Directive (96/53/EC).

The associations jointly support the revision of the Directive to address the market fragmentation across the EU which limits the further uptake of longer and heavier oversized and overweight vehicles, known as European Modular Systems (EMS) in international road freight transport. The letter calls inter alia for:

Raising the EU-wide maximum weight and length threshold of HDV to at least 44t while continuing to allow countries to go beyond these minimum criteria where they seek to do so;
Allowing EMS throughout the EU27;
Harmonising technical criteria and procedures for all types of EMS and all types of road operations, including combined transport; and
Ensuring coherence with other EU initiatives to decarbonise road transport such as the revision of the CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles.

The Commission is expected to adopt a proposal revising the Directive in June 2023, as part of the “Greening Transport” Package. This package will also include a Revision of the Combined Transport Directive as well as an EU framework for harmonised measurement of transport and logistics emissions – the so-called “CountEmissions EU”.