There were still a few points that needed to be settled in the context of the sixth state reform. As access to the profession became regionalised, a solution had to be found for the ERRU register that each Member State must make public. This has now happened and Flanders will from now on manage this instrument in collaboration with the two other regions.
The ERRU registers (European Register of Road transport Undertakings) should enable everyone to check whether a transport company actually has a transport permit. This instrument is indispensable in particular for the exercise of co-responsibility between the carrier and the client. The ERRU system also allows all Member States to exchange information on transport companies, which is very useful for checks and fraud investigations.
Since this is a European obligation, Belgium must comply with this as a member state. But access to the profession (and the issuance of transport permits) is now a regional competence. Last Friday, the Flemish government approved the principle of a cooperation agreement between the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region in this area. The last meetings of the Consultation Committee showed that there was a need for more formal cooperation at a technical level, in particular for the management of the IT application and the B-ERRU database.
“We recently learned that the B-ERRU platform is now managed by Flanders. There would still be only one register for Belgium, which is managed by Flanders, but which is also accessible to the other regions. The control services of the FPS Mobility and certain police services also have access to the B-ERRU platform, or will have to have access to it in the future,” explains Evy Van der Paelt, Deputy Director of Transport and Logistics Flanders.
