Regulation (EU) 2019/501 on common rules ensuring basic road freight and road passenger connectivity with regard to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union

Summary:

Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 March 2019 aiming to ensure the continuation of road freight and passenger services between the United Kingdom and the EU Member States following the UK's withdrawal from the Union.

Further information:

Within the Union, the right to carry out transport operations between Member States is granted on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 on common rules for access to the international road haulage market and Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services.

In the absence of a withdrawal agreement, road transport services between the UK and the Member States will cease to be governed by these Regulations following the UK's withdrawal from the Union. This could result in the loss of access to the Union’s road transport market for holders of Community licences issued by the UK. Similarly, EU operators could lose automatic access to the UK’s road transport market.

This new Regulation therefore aims to establish a temporary set of measures enabling road haulage operators and coach and bus service operators to carry goods and passengers between the Union and the UK following the latter's withdrawal from the Union. These measures are intended to maintain basic connectivity for a strictly time-limited period.

Background:

In March 2017 the United Kingdom submitted notification of its intention to withdraw from the Union pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This means that, if the Withdrawal Agreement is not ratified, the EU's primary and secondary law will cease to apply to the United Kingdom from 30 March 2019 [since extended to 12 April]. The UK will then become a third country.

The Communication ‘Preparing for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 30 March 2019: a Contingency Action Plan’ set out the contingency measures it plans to take if there is no withdrawal agreement in place on the withdrawal date. In that Communication, the European Commission listed the actions it considered necessary while recalling that additional actions may be necessary at a later stage.

EUR-Lex: COM(2018)895: Proposal for a Regulation on common rules ensuring basic road freight connectivity with regard to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2018:895:FIN

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