Czech Business Today

Since the beginning of the year, Czech carriers must pay their drivers €8.50 per hour worked in Germany according to the German minimum wage law. Apart from increased financial costs, there are other associated burdens like additional reporting and records archiving. Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament wants the European Commission to examine the impact of the German Law and decide to what extent domestic regulations may cover foreign road transport operations. 

At the end of January, Germany has declared a moratorium on the application of the Act. The moratorium applies only to the transit services through Germany and not to the cases of cabotage or cross-border traffic, which is significant for Czech carriers. Many Czech companies travel to Germany for the purpose of loading and unloading goods.

„In reality, for us the German legislation means additional administrative burden associated with archiving, keeping separate records of working hours and wages and translating of all documents into German. In financial terms, it has an impact on the wage costs level, not only of those On 25th February 2015, the European Commission published the concept of the Energy Union – one of its landmark projects. Specific content is still in the process of creation and will be created on the go. The main conclusions are: a) Framework Strategy for the Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy, which consists of five interrelated policy dimensions and the detailed steps the Commission will take to achieve it, b) Interconnection Communication setting out the measures needed to achieve the target of 10 % electricity interconnection by 2020 and c) Communication setting out a vision for the global climate agreement in Paris in December 2015. Czech businesses are persuaded that related to the drivers heading to Germany but also of those that will call for the exact same wage raise while heading to other countries, which reflects their rights according to the Czech Labour code (“equal pay for equal work”). Given the income differences within the EU, I consider it absurd to subordinate the set of domestic labour legislation, related to the transportation of goods and people to another country”; says Jan Medveď of ČESMAD association (Association of Czech Road Transport Operators). 

The issue is quite alarming as other countries like France and Belgium are planning to follow the German case. In the context of Commission ́s effort to deepen the Internal Market, these national initiatives are going completely in the opposite direction as they are creating additional barriers to the free movement of services and people and intervene into the domestic labour legislation of another Member State. After last year’s adoption of Belgian and French law, that introduced the obligation for truckers to spend the breaks outside of the vehicle’s cabin, it seems that the pressure on carriers not only persists but even is increasing.