CHAPTER IV

Use of equipment
Article 14
1
The employer shall issue a sufficient number of record sheets to drivers of vehicles fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex I, bearing in mind the fact that these sheets are personal in character, the length of the period of service and the possible obligation to replace sheets which are damaged, or have been taken by an authorised inspecting officer. The employer shall issue to drivers only sheets of an approved model suitable for use in the equipment installed in the vehicle.
Where the vehicle is fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex IB, the employer and the driver shall ensure that, taking into account the length of the period of service, the printing on request referred to in Annex IB can be carried out correctly in the event of an inspection.
2
The undertaking shall keep record sheets and printouts, whenever printouts have been made to comply with Article 15(1), in chronological order and in a legible form for at least a year after their use and shall give copies to the drivers concerned who request them. The undertaking shall also give copies of downloaded data from the driver cards to the drivers concerned who request them and the printed papers of these copies. The record sheets, printouts and downloaded data shall be produced or handed over at the request of any authorised inspecting officer.
3
The driver card as defined in Annex IB shall be issued, at the request of the driver, by the competent authority of the Member State where the driver has his normal residence.
A Member State may require any driver subject to the provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 and normally resident on its territory to hold a driver card.
a
For the purposes of this Regulation
‘
normal residence
’
means the place where a person usually lives, that is for at least 185 days in each calendar year, because of personal and occupational ties, or, in the case of a person with no occupational ties, because of personal ties which show close links between that person and the place where he is living.
However, the normal residence of a person whose occupational ties are in a different place from his personal ties and who consequently lives in turn in differnt places situated in two or more Member States shall be regarded as being the place of his personal ties, provided that such person returns there regularly. This last condition need not be met where the person is living in a Member State in order to carry out a fixed-term assignment.
b
Drivers shall give proof of their place of normal residence by any appropriate means, such as their identity card or any other valid document.
c
Where the competent authorities of the Member State issuing the driver card have doubts as to the validity of a statement as to normal residence made in accordance with point (b), or for the purpose of ceratin specific controls, they may request any additional information or evidence.
d
The competent authorities of the issuing Member State shall, as far as this can be done, ensure that the applicant does not already hold a valid driver card.
4
a
The competent authority of the Member State shall personalise the driver card in accordance with the provisions of Annex IB.
For administarative purposes, the driver card may not be valid for more than five years.
The driver may hold one valid driver card only. The driver is authorised to use only his own personalised driver card. The driver shall not use a driver card which is defective or which has expired.
When a new driver card is issued replacing the old, the new card shall bear the same driver card issue number but the index shall be increased by one. The issuing authority shall keep records of issued, stolen, lost or defective driver cards for a period at least equivalent to their period of administrative validity.
If the driver card is damaged, malfunctions or is lost or stolen, the authority shall supply a replacement card within five working days of receiving a detailed request to that effect.
In the event of a request for the renewal of a card whose expiry date is approaching, the authority shall supply a new card before the expiry date provided that the request was sent to it within the time limits laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 15(1).
b
Driver cards shall be issued only to applicants who are subject to the provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85.
c
The driver card shall be personal. It may not, during its official period of validity, be withdrawn or suspended for whatever reason unless the competent authority of a Member State finds that the card has been falsified, or the driver is using a card of which he is not the holder, or that the card held has been obtained on the basis of false declarations and/or forged documents. If such suspension or withdrawal measures are taken by a Member State other than the Member State of issue, the former shall return the card to the authorities of the Member State which issued it and shall indicate the reasons for returning it.
d
Driver cards issued by Member States shall be mutually recognised.
Where the holder of a valid driver card issued by a Member State has established his normal place of residence in another Member State, he may ask for his card to be exchanged for an equivalent driver card; it shall be the responsibility of the Member State which carries out the exchange to verify if necessary whether the card produced is actually still valid.
Member States carrying out an exchange shall return the old card to the authorities of the Member State of issue and inidcate the reasons for so doing.
e
Where a Member State replaces or exchanges a driver card, the replacement or exchange, and any subsequent replacement or renewal, shall be registered in that Member State.
f
Member States shall take all the necessary measures to prevent any possibility of driver cards being falsified.
5
Member States shall ensure that data needed to monitor compliance with Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 and Council Directive 92/6/EEC of
10 February 1992
on the installation and use of speed limitation devices for certain categories of motor vehicles in the Community
which are recorded and stored by recording equipment in conformity with Annex IB to this Regulation can be made available for at least 365 days after the date of their recording and that they can be made available under conditions that guarantee the security and accuracy of the data.
Member States shall take any measures necessary to ensure that the resale or decommissioning of recording equipment cannot detract, in particular, from the satisfactory application of this paragraph.
OJ L 57, 2.3.1992, p.27 .
Substituted by Council Regulation (EC) No 2135/98 of 24 September 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport and Directive 88/599/EEC concerning the application of Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85.
Substituted by Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport and amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 (Text with EEA relevance).
Inserted by Council Regulation (EC) No 2135/98 of 24 September 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport and Directive 88/599/EEC concerning the application of Regulations (EEC) No 3820/85 and (EEC) No 3821/85.