1. Mission Statement

Euro Contrôle Route is a group of European road control services which collaborate to improve the quality of enforcement so as to improve safety on the roads and the observance of the road transport regulations and to promote fair competition.

More information at www.euro-controle-route.eu

2. About ECR

In 1994, the BENELUX countries set up a "Road transport inspection" working group. With this initiative they wanted to work together on internationally organised and more thorough road transport inspections. The ultimate objective of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg was to significantly improve safety on European roads via harmonisation. It is little wonder that other countries quickly wished to join this cooperative association as well.

In 1997 the Benelux countries established relations with France, which led to the signing of an Administrative Arrangement on 5 October 1999 by the competent transport ministers. This date signified the official start of Euro Contrôle Route. Since then, the number of European countries has continued to grow. Euro Contrôle Route presently counts 20 interested countries, including 14 members.

Each of the members has signed the Administrative Arrangement. In this “gentlemen´s agreement”, the competent transport ministers of the respective countries support safer European roads via the ECR cooperation.

The first administrative agreement (link to AA (English and French)) was signed on 5 October 1999 by the competent transport ministers of Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and France.

As a result of ECR´s vigorous expansion and in order to meet the evolving needs, a second agreement (link with AA (English and French)) was signed on 22 March 2007. This time the competent transport ministers of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Poland, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy participated.

For more detailed information, go to www.euro-controle-route.eu

3. Structure

ECR is very transparently structured. Its functioning is based on a single umbrella body and three working groups and is fully supported by the ECR secretariat.

The STEERING COMMITTEE bears responsibility for all ECR activities and is composed of representatives of the ECR member states. This Steering Committee meets at least twice a year in the country that holds the presidency at that moment.

The executive body or EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE consists of the current, former and future presidents and can be expanded to six members. The presidency rotates on an annual basis. The committee prepares the practical implementation of decisions of the Steering Committee. In addition, this body is responsible for the external impact of ECR in its contacts with other organisations and persons.

The three working groups each work on specific themes. The OPSED working group includes firstly the operational and most visible aspect of the ECR functioning, namely the coordinated international road checks. Second, it is also working constantly on data exchange concerning violations, risk companies and fraud.

The TRAINING working group focuses primarily on the training of inspectors by organising multilateral and bilateral exchanges. The main objectives of this initiative are to increase knowledge about inspection procedures and national and international regulations, but attention is also devoted to teambuilding and languages.

In the HARMONISATION working group attention is primarily paid to streamlining inspection procedures, the transposition of European regulations, sanctions and techniques. The results of this work ease the tasks of the inspectors and make European roads much safer.

More information at www.euro-controle-route.eu

4. Organisation: members and observers

4.1. ECR covers Europe

ECR has expanded significantly in recent years, and today has 13 members and 7 observers. All of them see the importance of multilateral contacts and joint action against those engaging in fraud, unsafe vehicles and risk companies. Over the years Euro Contrôle Route has acquired a much higher public profile. Since 1999 the number of members has grown steadily and European countries have expressed their interest.

More information at www.euro-controle-route.eu

4.2. A chronological overview and the involved control services :

More information at www.euro-controle-route.eu