Smart tachograph: a proposal to tie its data to automatic pay calculation

An emerging proposal from European unions — notably the Nordic Federation of Transport Workers — suggests an integration that could transform labour enforcement in road transport: linking smart tachograph data to an automatic payroll calculation system.

The problem it aims to solve

Foreign drivers, especially from outside the EU, frequently face:

• Dishonest pay — contracts that do not reflect the hours actually worked
• Ghost hours — time recorded as “availability” or “other work” that is in fact working time
• No transparency — no way to confirm whether the payment is fair

Example: a driver logged as “available” for 10 hours a day, with no extra pay, while waiting for a load. That is unpaid work.

How it would work

1. Tachograph data — already compulsory in all heavy vehicles (smart tachograph)
2. Driver card — records the name, the hours and the type of activity (driving, rest, other work, availability)
3. Compliance algorithm — automatically checks whether the pay matches the actual working time
4. European database — cross-checked against payroll records, where available, to spot discrepancies

What the tachograph has recorded so far

The tachograph records:

• Driving (time at the wheel)
• Rest (legal rest periods)
• Other work — non-driving activities (loading, unloading, maintenance)
• Availability — time waiting for instructions

The problem: “availability” is a grey area. A driver queuing to unload is on “availability”, but many companies do not pay that time at the same rate as driving.

The unions’ proposal

The NTF and its allies suggest giving the European Labour Authority access to tachograph data in order to:

1. Check working time compliance — whether tachograph hours match company records
2. Calculate pay automatically — from the hourly rate and the hours actually recorded
3. Flag fraud — when the times do not match the payments declared

Where it stands: not law yet

Important: this is a proposal under debate, not adopted legislation. The EU has not formally taken it up.

Obstacles:

• Company resistance — it removes room for manoeuvre in employment terms
• National sovereignty — countries want to keep control of labour law
• Privacy — questions about access to location data (the tachograph records position)
• Technical complexity — collective agreements differ from country to country

The European Labour Authority’s current role

The ELA already uses tachograph data, but in a limited way:

• As forensic evidence — confirming whether a driver was where they say on a given date
• To investigate cases — not for real-time surveillance

The proposal would extend this to continuous automatic verification.

Impact for drivers

Positive:

• Drivers working abroad gain protection against wage fraud
• An automatic system removes unfair “negotiations” over what gets paid

Risk:

• Operators would have less flexibility in payroll
• Compliance costs may rise for small and medium firms

Timescale: if adopted, technical implementation would take two to three years.

What to watch

Follow announcements from:

• the European Labour Authority (www.ela.europa.eu)
• the European Commission — Mobility and Transport directorate
• European unions (NTF, ITF and others)

It is not urgent now, but it is a trend worth watching.