Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/68 of 21 January 2016 on common procedures and specifications necessary for the interconnection of electronic registers of driver cards

Article 1

Subject-matter

This Regulation lays down the requirements regarding the obligatory connection of the national electronic registers on driver cards to the TACHOnet messaging system referred to in Article 31 of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014.

Article 2

Definitions

In addition to the definitions laid down in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘asynchronous interface’ means a process whereby a message in response to a request is returned on a new HTTP connection;

(b) ‘broadcast search’ means a request message from a Member State addressed to all other Member States;

(c) ‘card issuing authority’ (‘CIA’) means the entity empowered by a Member State for the issuing and management of tachograph cards;

(d) ‘central hub’ means the information system enabling the routing of TACHOnet messages between Member States;

(e) ‘national system’ means the information system set up in each Member State for the purpose of emitting, processing and responding to TACHOnet messages;

(f) ‘synchronous interface’ means a process whereby a message in response to a request is returned on the same HTTP connection used for the request;

(g) ‘requesting Member State’ means the Member State emitting a request or a notification, which is then routed to the appropriate responding Member State(s);

(h) ‘responding Member State’ means the Member State to whom the TACHOnet request or notification is directed;

(i) ‘singlecast search’ means a request message from a Member State addressed to a single Member State;

(j) ‘tachograph card’, means either a driver card or a workshop card, as defined in Article 2(f) and (k) of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014;

(k) ‘Trans European Services for Telematics between Administrations system (“Testa”)’ means a telecommunications interconnection platform for secure information exchange between the public administrations in the Union;

(l) ‘direct access to TACHOnet’ means the connection to the TACHOnet messaging system of a national electronic register via a Testa connection managed by the Member State hosting the register;

(m) ‘indirect access to TACHOnet’ means the connection to the TACHOnet messaging system of a national electronic register via a Testa connection managed by a Member State not hosting the register.

Article 3

Obligation to connect to TACHOnet

Member States shall connect the national electronic registers referred to in Article 31(1) of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, to TACHOnet messaging system.

Article 3a

Connection by third countries

Subject to the approval of the Commission, third countries may connect their electronic registers to the TACHOnet messaging system if they comply with this Regulation.

Article 3b

Preliminary tests

The connection of a national electronic register to the TACHOnet messaging system, be it through direct or indirect access, shall be established after the successful completion of connection, integration and performance tests in accordance with the instructions and under the supervision of the Commission.

In case of failure of the preliminary tests, the Commission may temporarily put on hold the testing phase. The tests shall resume once the responsible national authority has communicated to the Commission the adoption of the necessary technical improvements at national level allowing the successful performance of the preliminary tests.

The maximum duration of the preliminary tests shall be six months.

Article 4

Technical specifications

TACHOnet messaging system shall fulfil the technical specifications laid down in Annexes I to VII.

Article 5

Use of TACHOnet

Member States shall follow the procedures set out in Annex VIII.

Member States shall provide access to TACHOnet messaging system to their national card issuing authorities and control officers carrying out the duties referred to in Article 38 of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, in order to facilitate effective checks of the validity, status and uniqueness of driver cards.

Article 5a

Indirect access to TACHOnet

A national authority requesting indirect access to TACHOnet shall submit the following documents to the Commission:

(a) a letter signed by a representative of the national authority requesting the Commission to start the testing phase for providing indirect access to TACHOnet;

(b) an application for indirect access to TACHOnet in the format set out in Annex IX;

(c) the bilateral contract between the national authority requesting indirect access and the national authority providing that access through its Testa connection, signed by representatives of both national authorities.

Article 6

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 2 March 2018.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX I

General aspects of TACHOnet messaging system

1. Architecture

TACHOnet messaging system shall be composed of the following parts:

1.1. A central hub, which shall be able to receive a request from the requesting Member State, validate it and process it by forwarding it to the responding Member States. The central hub shall wait for each responding Member State to answer, consolidate all the answers and forward the consolidated response to the requesting Member State. All TACHOnet messages shall be routed through the central hub.

1.2. National systems of the Member States, which shall be fitted with an interface capable of both sending requests to the central hub and receiving the corresponding replies. National systems may use propriety or commercial software to transmit and receive messages from the central hub.

2. Management

2.1. The central hub shall be managed by the Commission, which shall be responsible for the technical operation and maintenance of the central hub.

2.2. The central hub shall not store data for a period exceeding six months, other than the logging, statistical and routing data set out in Annex VII.

2.3. The central hub shall not provide access to personal data, except for authorized Commission personnel, when necessary for the purpose of monitoring, maintenance and troubleshooting.

2.4. Member States shall be responsible for:

2.5. The Commission shall provide a web based application with secured access, referred to as ‘MOVEHUB web portal’, providing at least the following services:

ANNEX II

Functionalities of TACHOnet messaging system

Appendix

Card statuses

ANNEX III

Message provisions of TACHOnet messaging system

1. General technical requirements

1.1. The central hub shall provide both synchronous and asynchronous interfaces for the exchange of messages. Member States may choose the most suitable technology to interface with their own applications.

1.2. All messages exchanged between the central hub and the national systems must be UTF-8 encoded.

1.3. National systems shall be capable of receiving and processing messages containing Greek or Cyrillic characters.

2. XML messages structure and Schema definition (XSD)

2.1. The general structure of XML messages shall follow the format defined by the XSD schemas installed in the central hub.

2.2. The central hub and the national systems shall transmit and receive messages that conform to the message XSD schema.

2.3. National systems shall be capable of sending, receiving and processing all messages corresponding to any of the functionalities set out in Annex II.

2.4. The XML messages shall include at least the minimum requirements laid down in the Appendix to this Annex.

Appendix

Minimum requirements for the content of the XML messages