BRATISLAVA, March 6, (WEBNOVINY) – Due to low fines and their poor enforceability, Slovakia has become a transit country for trucks from other countries. These are results of an extraordinary inspection carried out by the National Labor Inspectorate in cooperation with the Police on Saturday night. Labor inspectors checked 165 drivers of vehicles over 3.5 tons on the territory of the Slovak Republic, whereas 116 were from abroad. They found 147 offenses and levied fines in the volume of EUR 4,144, reported Igor Holeczy of the National Labor Inspectorate to SITA news agency.
Compared to neighboring countries, fines in Slovakia are low. Moreover, the fines are practically unenforceable from foreign hauliers, said the inspectorate’s head Jana Popovicova. She added that maximum fines should increase based on the prepared revision to the respective law. A different problem is enforceability of fines from foreign hauliers. Slovak labor inspectors do not have the authority to withhold documents to transported goods, which would prevent hauliers from driving on. Based on the prepared revision to the law, inspectors should be able to withhold the documents, as experience from other countries shows that it is an efficient instrument in enforcing levied fines on the spot.
Last year, labor inspectors uncovered over 6,200 violations of the law and levied fines worth nearly EUR 123,000. They checked over 6,000 vehicles over 3.5 tons, while 2,500 where from abroad. Nearly 2,600 violations of the rules were detected in hauliers from abroad. The highest number of truck drivers were from the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.
The most frequent violations concern the rules on daily rest periods, daily driving time, or weekly rest periods. Inspectors also more frequently discover the use of magnates to compromise digital tachographs which record the activity of drivers.
SITA
