The government has published a bulletin on its official website listing the measures taken to support the most affected sectors of the economy. We remind you that the freight transport industry is one of them. One such measure was the reduction of administrative burdens, under which

  • the reform of the technical inspection of vehicles is postponed to March 1, 2021
  • the frequency of technical inspections is reduced
  • a temporary moratorium on fines for non-compliance with technical inspections is introduced
  • new requirements for GLONASS equipment for buses and trucks are brought forward to 31 May 2021
  • compulsory certification of vehicles for the carriage of dangerous goods is postponed to 1 January 2022
  • the entry into force of the new rules on making structural changes to vehicles is postponed until 1 February 2021.

Rules for admission to carry out international transport

As of January 1, 2021, an updated system of penalties for violations of the rules for admission to carry out international transport is in effect. If a company now first receives a warning, from next year the validity of the certificate of admission will be immediately suspended (up to 180 days) or cancelled, without warning (after re-suspension). The period of consideration by Rostransnadzor of submitted documents also changes: 3 working days (previously – 30) and a maximum of 20 days – for verification and decision on admission or refusal.
Text of the Regulation

Stricter regulations for drivers’ working hours

As of January 1, the driver’s normal working time must not exceed 40 hours per week. If the standard cannot be met, a summary working time record is established for the driver with a settlement period of one month (this may be extended to 3 months in agreement with the trade union organization).
In addition, upon agreement with the driver, his working day may be divided into several parts, and a break between them is required no later than 5 hours after the start of work.
The total break time between parts of the working day should not exceed 3 hours (for drivers performing regular transport of passengers and luggage in urban and suburban traffic), and 5 hours (for all others).
The driver’s working time includes:

  • driving time;
  • the time of special breaks for rest from driving;
  • non-driving time.
    The time of breaks between parts of the working day is not included in the driver’s working time.

Procedure for issuing special permits for the carriage of dangerous goods

As of January 1, 2021, a revised procedure for issuing special permits for the movement on highways of a vehicle transporting dangerous goods comes into force. This is specified in the Decree of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia on December 15, 2020. The document specifies the procedure for submitting an application for a special permit, the list of documents and certificates that must be attached to the application, the procedure for consideration of the application by the authorized body, the procedure for drawing up and issuing a special permit.

Requirements for the content of the first aid kit in the car

According to the document published on the official website of legal information, from the new year the first aid kit should contain: 2 medical masks, 2 pairs of gloves, a mask for artificial respiration, a tourniquet, bandages, sterile gauze pads, an adhesive plaster. The first aid kit should also contain scissors and first aid instructions.

Traffic rules for trucks in the automatic weight and volume control zone

As of January 17, 2021, an updated law on the procedure for weighing trucks will come into force, which introduces the concept of an “Automatic Weight and Dimension Control Zone”. On its territory (marked with special signs) there will be automatic scales and information boards for immediate display of measurement results. The law also provides for special traffic regulations in this zone. It is prohibited to:

  • stopping and reversing
  • Use of headlights and searchlights
  • driving with illegible or counterfeit license plates, without them or with devices which make it impossible to recognize license plates
  • driving in the opposite lane, even partially. The driver is obliged to keep strictly to his lane.
    The maximum permissible speed in the weight and size control zone is 20 km/h.