The problem does not stop with the driver
Most operators learn this the hard way. A driver runs over his daily driving time, skips a break, or pulls his card and keeps going. He gets a penalty at the roadside — and that feels like the end of it. Then the authority looks at the company.
The question an inspector asks is not “did your driver break the rules”. It is “did you instruct him, did you check, did you notice, and what did you do about it”. Those four questions decide whether the infringement stays with the driver or becomes the company’s problem.
Article 10(2), in plain operational terms
Regulation (EC) 561/2006 gives the operator four duties. They are short in the text and large in practice:
Instruct the driver
Properly, and in a way you can later show happened. Verbal briefing counts for very little when nothing is recorded.
Organise the work
Schedules must make compliance possible. A route that cannot be driven legally is an organisational failure, not a driver failure.
Carry out regular checks
Not store the data — check it. This is the duty most often mistaken for archiving.
Act on what you find
An infringement you detected and ignored is worse evidence than one you never saw, because it shows the system works and you chose not to use it.
Downloading intervals come from Regulation (EU) 581/2010: driver cards at least every 28 days, vehicle units at least every 90 days, plus a download before a vehicle is sold or transferred. Meeting those deadlines satisfies the storage duty. It does not, by itself, satisfy the duty to check.
Yes, including infringements in another country
Article 10(3) is explicit: the operator is liable for infringements committed by its drivers even where they occurred in another member state or a third country. A penalty issued in Italy or France does not stay in Italy or France.
The same article then adds the sentence this whole article is about. Member states may make that liability conditional on the operator having breached its own duties under paragraphs 1 and 2 — and they may consider any evidence that the operator cannot reasonably be held responsible for the infringement that occurred.
Read that as a practical instruction
The regulation is telling you that your defence is documentary. Not a good relationship with the driver, not an argument at the hearing — a record showing that you instructed, checked, found and acted. If it is not written down, it did not happen.
What can show you were not reasonably responsible
National authorities assess this individually, so no list is a guarantee. But the items below are what compliance systems are expected to produce, and their absence is what gets held against operators:
Before the infringement
Records of driver instruction and training with dates and signatures. Internal rules for tachograph and card use. Evidence that schedules and delivery windows allowed the rules to be met. Contracts that do not force impossible timings.
After the infringement
Downloads made within the 28 and 90-day intervals. Evaluation output showing the infringement was detected. A written infringement report acknowledged by the driver. The corrective action taken, and evidence it was followed through.
Notice the pattern: half the evidence has to exist before anything goes wrong. That is why compliance built after a notice arrives rarely helps.
What regulators actually punish
In July 2026 a British operator had its licence cut from 12 vehicles to 8 after a driver repeatedly pulled his card and kept driving — nearly 200 km in one unrecorded stretch, later logged as a break.
The driver lost his entitlement. What the regulator held against the company is the instructive part: incomplete tachograph downloads, no documented disciplinary procedures, driver training delivered verbally with nothing recorded, and repeat infringements that were never addressed. The inquiry heard that the problems went unnoticed after the office manager left and nobody else knew how to use the monitoring systems.
The mechanism is British — an Operator Licence reviewed by a Traffic Commissioner has no exact equivalent in EU member states. The failures are not. Every one of them would read the same way in a company audit under Directive 2006/22/EC. Full detail on the UK regime →
Good repute and the national register
A fine is a cost. The consequence that ends companies is different: under Regulation (EC) 1071/2009, serious infringements are recorded in the national electronic register and can lead to loss of good repute — for the undertaking, for the transport manager, or both.
How it escalates
Regulation (EU) 2016/403 classifies which infringements are serious enough to trigger the procedure. Tachograph manipulation and missing records sit high on that list. Article 19 of Regulation 561/2006 additionally allows a member state to withdraw, suspend or restrict an operator’s authorisation.
How long it lasts
Good repute lost is not restored quickly — the minimum period before it can be regained is one year, and a transport manager declared unfit loses the validity of the certificate of professional competence across all member states until rehabilitated.
The schedule is somebody’s responsibility too
Article 10(4) extends the duty beyond the transport company. Consignors, freight forwarders, tour operators, principal contractors, subcontractors and driver employment agencies must ensure that contractually agreed transport schedules comply with the regulation.
This matters in two directions. If a customer imposes a delivery window that cannot be met legally, the obligation is not yours alone. And if infringements cluster around one route, one customer or one type of job, the problem is probably not the driver — it is the planning. That is a pattern only regular evaluation of the data will reveal.
What an inspection at your premises looks for
Directive 2006/22/EC sets the minimum conditions for checks at operators’ premises. In practice an inspector will want:
Downloaded data
From driver cards and vehicle units, complete and within the required intervals.
Evidence of evaluation
Output showing the data was assessed against driving time, break and rest rules — not merely stored.
Infringement records
What was found, when, who reviewed it, what was communicated to the driver.
Corrective action
Documented follow-up, and evidence that repeat cases were escalated rather than repeated.
Training records
Dated, acknowledged, and covering the rules the infringements relate to.
Working time
Directive 2002/15/EC applies on top of drivers’ hours and is checked alongside it.
A process that lowers the risk
Download on schedule
Cards every 28 days, units every 90. Set internal reminders at 21 and 75 so one absence does not push you over.
Evaluate, then file
Run the data against drivers’ hours and working time rules. Storage without evaluation is the gap regulators find.
Debrief in writing
Every infringement gets a report and a driver acknowledgement. This is the document that answers the inspector.
Do not centralise in one head
More than one person must know how to run the system. Compliance that depends on a single employee fails the moment they leave.
TAGRA reads data from any digital or smart tachograph regardless of country, evaluates it against drivers’ hours and working time rules, produces the infringement reports you hand to a driver and keep on file, and maintains the archive you have to produce on demand. Windows, no cloud dependency, your data stays with you. Try it free for 30 days — no card details required.
Frequently asked questions
Is the company liable for an infringement committed by its driver?
Yes. Article 10(3) of Regulation (EC) 561/2006 makes the operator liable for infringements committed by its drivers, including those committed in another member state or a third country. The same article allows member states to consider evidence that the operator cannot reasonably be held responsible.
Is downloading the data enough, or must it also be evaluated?
Downloading alone does not demonstrate that checks took place. Article 10(2) requires proper instruction of drivers and regular checks on compliance. Cards must be downloaded at least every 28 days and vehicle units every 90, but the obligation is to know what the data contains.
What evidence helps show the operator is not responsible?
Records of instruction and training, internal rules for tachograph use, downloads within the legal intervals, evaluation output showing infringements were detected, written infringement reports acknowledged by the driver, corrective action, and schedules that made compliance possible. Assessment depends on national law and the circumstances of the case.
Can a company lose its licence over driver infringements?
Serious or repeated infringements are recorded in the national electronic register under Regulation (EC) 1071/2009 and can lead to loss of good repute; Article 19 of Regulation 561/2006 also allows a member state to withdraw, suspend or restrict the authorisation. Good repute can be regained only after a minimum of one year.
This article is informational and describes general requirements arising from EU rules on driving time, rest periods and tachograph data. It is not legal advice. Liability, penalties and what counts as an adequate defence are determined by national law and the circumstances of each case.