The features of the new IMI platform for displaced drivers

The new Internal Market Information System (IMI) platform has been mandatory for posted drivers since Wednesday, February 2. Who is legislating this application? Which companies are obliged to use it? What are the characteristics of this system? Keep reading, because in this post we tell you all about it!

Legislation of the new IMI platform

Previously, transport companies making international trips from Spain had to register with the national platforms of each European country.

With the implementation of the Mobility Package approved in July 2020, this registration is now managed by the European Commission. As of February 2, each company will have to register in the IMI European Platform and complete all the data related to each trip. All previous national registers will also be repealed as of this date.

Which companies will have to use the new IMI platform?

Companies performing transport services in European countries and holding an EU license will be obliged to use the new platform. The obligation is independent of the country of origin, whether it is a Member State or a European Economic Area country, and whether or not it has transposed the European Parliament's Directive 1057/2020 on the posting of drivers. From May, it will also be mandatory for companies with vehicles weighing 2.5 tons or more.

In total, the 33,000 Spanish companies that carry out international transport will start using the new IMI platform. In this way, they will no longer have to register their trips on the national platforms of most European countries.

What is the IMI platform like?

The new registration platform is multilingual and intuitive. In addition, they will be able to receive requests for documents, electronically, from the control authorities of the countries, in case of possible inspections.

The movement declarations registered from the application can have a duration of up to 6 months and can be modified, cancelled or renewed. Each driver must have a copy, physical or digital, of this declaration, together with the supporting document for the transport in question and the corresponding tachograph records. It is possible to print the declarations from the platform or send them by e-mail to the driver.

In the registration of each trip, the company must enter in the application the data related to:

• The transport authorization
• The vehicle
• The driver
• The start and end dates of the trip
• The transport manager's data

What are the implications of the new registration system?

This new way of controlling international transports, together with the new cabotage rules, affects letterbox companies and competition from offshore companies with more advantageous wage conditions. Thanks to the new legislation, these drivers will be paid the minimum wage of the countries in which they carry out each transport. Transit and bilateral transports are excluded.

Thanks to the mandatory registration of each transport on the IMI platform, the control of the activity is more effective than with the previous national platforms imposed in countries such as Germany or France.

Now that we have done this review of the main aspects of the IMI platform, we can establish that its objectives (along with the other measures of the EU Mobility Package) are to improve the European transport market. By means of:

• Fairer and more harmonized rules in the social, labour and fiscal fields.
• The reduction of the distortions that until now occurred among the competition.