The professional road transport organisations, OTRE, FNTR and TLF, have called for stricter regulations to be put in place to regulate the conditions for loading and unloading of goods by drivers, as well as waiting times. excessive. They were inspired by the examples of Portugal and Spain, where these practices are limited or prohibited.
The standard contract that governs relations between carriers and their customers already contains specific rules on this subject, but they are not respected in practice. This is why the OTRE recalled its requests formulated during its wishes at the beginning of the year.
Concerning loading or unloading operations, the OTRE requests that article 7 of the standard contract be incorporated into the Transport Code to make it mandatory. Thus, the loading of the goods for shipments over 3 t would be the responsibility of the sender or the consignee, unless the carrier agrees to do so for specific remuneration. In any case, it would be prohibited for a single driver to carry out these operations.
Regarding waiting times, the OTRE asks that article 11 of the standard contract also be incorporated into the Transport Code. This article sets maximum periods for the immobilization of the vehicle and/or the crew, beyond which the carrier must receive compensation from the person responsible for the delay. This compensation must be calculated on the basis of the indicators published by the National Roads Committee (CNR), unless a higher amount has been agreed.