There will be an indefinite strike by Canary Islands transporters starting on Monday, February 27th, as announced by the National Federation of Transport Associations due to the regional government's "lack of response" to the regulation of tachograph use in the Canary Islands.
The National Federation of Transport Associations of Spain has detailed that, following the "massive" demonstrations by transporters last November, an agreement was reached with the autonomous government to open a negotiation table "which is currently at a standstill."
This organization of small and medium-sized road transport companies has added in this regard that the Canary Islands Government's lack of response to their demand to make the use of the tachograph more flexible on the islands, taking into account their insular peculiarity, "has led Canary Islands transporters to call an indefinite strike starting next Monday, February 27th, which will foreseeably paralyze the ports on all the islands."
"On the islands, the tachograph is unnecessary"
Fenadismer has recalled that the tachograph has been mandatory in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands since 2010, under, according to them, a Royal Decree approved at the end of 2009 by the central government after agreements reached with the autonomous governments of both archipelagos, modifying the existing regulation, which only required its use on the larger islands.
This criterion, they added, was maintained last year after the approval last September of the new Royal Decree updating the road transport activities exempted from the use of the tachograph device in development of the new European Regulation on driving and rest times approved by the European Union in July 2020.
The employers' association has emphasized that, despite the fact that European regulations allow for the exemption of tachograph use for transportation on islands with an area of less than 2,300 square kilometers, which would exempt all Spanish islands except Mallorca, "in practice, neither the Canary Islands nor the Balearic Islands Government have requested the Spanish Government to make use of this legal provision in their territories to date."
The association considers that the requirement of the tachograph in transportation carried out in insular territory (Canary Islands and Balearic Islands), due to their small size, "only generates bureaucratic difficulties and unnecessary investments that are not justified by the existence of problems or non-compliance with said regulations, since the distances traveled are short and therefore the driving times are very limited."
Furthermore, Fenadismer has highlighted that "it has not been proven that the obligation to use the tachograph on the islands prevents accidents or infractions, but only a collection effect due to the sanctions that are usually imposed."
