The deputies adopted at second reading a Bill amending the Roads Act, submitted by the Council of Ministers.
The changes were adopted without speeches in plenary. According to the report of the Committee on Transport, Information Technologies and Communications, the adoption of the bill is related to the need to ensure compliance of Bulgarian legislation with European requirements for effective implementation of activities for public use of roads by regulating road traffic, issuing permits and introducing restrictions on road use.
As a member of the European Union, the Republic of Bulgaria has transposed into its national legislation part of the provisions of Directive 1999/62 / EC, therefore the new amendments to the Directive should be transposed with a deadline for notification to the European Commission on 16 October 2013. - reduction of the amount of the monthly and weekly vignette fees for the road vehicles under art. 10a, para. 7, items 1 and 2 of the Roads Act and proportional calculation of the daily rate in relation to the annual amount.
The proposed amendments to the Roads Act are in accordance with the principles and requirements of Directive 2011/76 / EU and have been prepared in implementation of the agreements reached between the Republic of Bulgaria and the member states of the European Union. Thus, the Republic of Bulgaria will comply with the requirements of Art. 1, paragraph 2, art. 7a of Directive 2011/76 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 amending Directive 1999/62 / EC on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures.
The bill also proposes texts aimed at preventing cases in which owners and users of road vehicles, carrying out special use of roads by transporting heavy and oversized cargo, declare incorrect data and circumstances. This, in turn, leads to the payment by them of lower fees due for this activity, without this circumstance having as a consequence the engagement of their criminal or administrative penal liability.
At present, the amount of the due fee for the above-mentioned type of road use is determined by data and circumstances entered by the persons. An application for them shall be submitted according to a model - Annex № 4 to Ordinance № 11 of 2001 for the movement of oversized and / or heavy road vehicles. The submission of the application is regulated only in a by-law, which in practice leads to the impossibility of declaring false data by these persons against them to be held criminally liable within the meaning of Art. 313 of the Criminal Code. At the same time, there is no administrative penal liability provided for in the law, which is expressed in the imposition of a fine or property sanction.
The proposed changes will help to carry out preventive control, which in turn will lead to the collection of actual tolls, as well as an accurate assessment of the load on the road surface and prevent it from premature wear, and hence to prevent the creation of a risk of the life, health and / or property of the road users.
According to the changes, a person who does not indicate or incorrectly indicates data or circumstances in the declaration, shall be punished by a fine or a pecuniary sanction in the amount of BGN 1,000 to 3,000, if he is not subject to a heavier penalty. In case of repeated violation, the fine or the property sanction shall amount to BGN 2,000 to 6,000.
Source: 24chasa.bg