New Digital Tachographs

What?s it all about?

EC regulation No 561/2006, published in April 2006, replaced the existing regulation 3820/85 on EU drivers? hours and made the fitment of digital tachographs mandatory in all new vehicles that require a tachograph, as of 1st May 2006. There have been no changes, however, to the basic hours rules or to the vehicles exempted from using a tachograph. Nor is there any requirement to retrofit digital tachographs to existing vehicles.

How are they different to analogue devices?

The main difference with digital tachographs is that records are saved to a credit-card-sized smart card that?s inserted into the vehicle unit, rather than onto a waxed paper chart. Digital tachos record driver activity such as driving time, other work, rests and breaks to the driver smart card, as well as retaining the information in the basic vehicle unit. Other cards are used by other parties for company, workshop and enforcement purposes.

The vehicle unit will hold data for around 12 months on the drivers of the vehicle and their periods of driving and duty, depending on the volumes of data generated. It also holds data relating to faults, over-speeding, tampering and calibration, as well as recording when its data has been accessed and by what cards. If the vehicle unit isn?t downloaded before its memory is full, it will start to overwrite the oldest data ? leaving operators without the records they are legally required to hold. Most industry bodies recommend downloading vehicle units at least every three months.

What about driver card downloads?

The driver card should hold up to around 28 working days? data, depending on the volumes of data generated. Most industry bodies recommend downloading driver cards at least every 21 days.