03-08-07 VOSA FTA RHA Advise Romania On Road Safety Issues
3 Aug 2007
NEWS RELEASE
VOSA, FTA and RHA advise Romania on road safety issues
At the end of July the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) lead a team involving the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and the Road Haulage Association (RHA) to visit the Romanian Transport Authorities and Trade Associations as a part of VOSA’s current twinning project with Romania. The Twinning Project is funded by the EU and is designed to ensure correct and best practice application of EU Road Transport Law in Romania.
The visit organised by VOSA follows a joint campaign launched in 2006 by the FTA and the RHA calling for key details of foreign vehicles visiting the UK to be registered on arrival following concerns regarding different standards of legal compliance. The delegation set out to help review lorry operating standards for the benefit of both the Romanian domestic industry and for international transport operations.
Joan Williams, Head of Road Freight Policy and the FTA’s representative on the visit, said:
‘‘The Romanian Administration were very interested in learning how the UK Government and the UK transport industry communicate and enforce the requirements and regulations governing the behaviour of drivers and the condition of vehicles. We have now provided them with samples of FTA compliance guides for operators, handbooks for drivers, and other material which will be translated and circulated within Romania. “
Neil Barlow, VOSA’s head of Traffic Enforcement Policy and the project leader for the work in Romania said:
“This twinning project is focussed on improving the standard of vehicle operation in Romania, and this particular piece of work has given us opportunity to get the Romanian authorities and trade to work together to improve safety in the industry. By working as a team made up of representatives from VOSA, the FTA and the RHA we have sent out a really positive message of the benefit that can be achieved by working together. This is an excellent piece of work that should contribute to ensuring real road safety benefits and the common application of standards across Europe - we are grateful for the FTA and RHA agreeing to partner with us to achieve this.”
Peter Cullum, RHA’s Head of International Affairs said:
“We got a good response to the RHA Presentation on modern trade association practice, particularly as far as services and advice are concerned. It is clearly in the interests of the UK if we can harmonise standards in Europe. This visit was another example of the UK helping to ensure that agreed EU standards apply as widely as possible.’
ENDS -
NOTES TO EDITOR:
VOSA’s Twinning Project with Romania started on 3rd Oct 2006. The partnership is set to further harmonise and implement the road safety legislation and strengthen the related institutions in order to comply with EU requirements, and lasts for 14 months.
Twinning forms part of a wider European Commission programme designed to assist candidate countries for EU membership and new member states in acquiring the independent capacity to adopt, implement and enforce the full acquiscommunautaire (the complete body of EU law) in preparation for and in the early stages of full membership. This means helping these countries to establish modern and efficient institutions that capable of applying the acquis to the same standards as the current Member States.
The Twinning programme helps achieve this by the secondment of expert civil servants to candidate countries - and for this a VOSA employee is based in Romania for the project duration. The “Resident Twinning Advisor” is able to assist the Romanian administration on a day-to-day basis in the implementation of EU rules, and is also able to advise on best practice and efficient and effective ways of working. They also work alongside short-term-experts, such as those from VOSA, the FTA and RHA who have just completed this work, to ensure that specific pieces of work can be coordinated effectively.
These projects provide an excellent opportunity to develop close ties with other EU member states (and hence improve future joint working on policy development and at an operational level). In addition working towards ensuring safe vehicle operation within other member states has benefits in improving the quality of vehicles and vehicle operation for vehicles on international journeys - and this helps ensure fair competition across Europe.
VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) is responsible for:
• Processing applications for licences to operate lorries and buses and registering bus services
• Operating and administering testing schemes for all vehicles, including the supervision of the MOT testing scheme
• Enforcing the law on vehicles to ensure that they comply with legal standards and regulations
• Enforcing drivers' hours and licensing requirements
• Supporting Traffic Commissioners to help them make informed decisions on operator licensing, vocational drivers and bus registration requirements
• Providing training and advice for commercial operators
• Investigating vehicle accidents, defects and recalls.
For media enquiries about VOSA, please contact: Zita Easton on 0117 954 2561 or Henry Norman on 0117 954 3208 you can also e-mail press@vosa.gov.uk
For more information from the FTA call:
Joan Williams, Head of Road Freight Policy at on 01786 457505.
For more information from the RHA call:
Peter Cullum, Head of International Affairs on 01932 841515.
Page last updated: 06/08/2007