Credit: Customs and Excise Agency (ADA)
In the week beginning 22 February 2021, Luxembourg's Customs and Excise Agency carried out controls on the transport and stowage of goods by road.
During this campaign, customs officers checked around 70 lorries and noted some serious infringements of existing legal provisions.
In a first case, agents of the customs' transport brigade intercepted a lorry on the A6 motorway and, during a control at the customs centre, they noted that the lorry was transporting polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in old, expired intermediate bulk containers (IBCs). These toxic liquids were intended to be transported from Belgium to France for destruction. The lorry was then escorted to Lamesch, where the liquids were transferred to new IBCs. Customs officers informed the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development of the infringement and issued a €500 fine for failing to indicate Luxembourg as the country of transit on the transport papers. They also filed a complaint against the shipping company for the use of expired containers.
Subsequently, Luxembourg customs agents intercepted a French lorry carrying hay bales which had a total height of 4.80 metres, thus exceeding the maximum height allowed without special authorisation (4 metres). In this specific case, such an authorisation could not have been issued, given that it divisible merchandise can be stacked in such a way as to respect the maximum authorised height of 4 metres. Not only were the hay bales stacked too high in this case, but they were also poorly secured. Upon a thorough check, it turned out that the lorry had been acquired in April 2020, but had never been registered in the name of its current owner, no insurance had been taken out and the driver was not in possession of a valid Eurovignette. In addition, officers noted infringements relating to compliance with driving and rest times. During the fuel check, customs officers also noticed that the lorry was running on coloured diesel without authorisation, which constitutes an infringement of customs legislation. Due to the violations observed, the driver had to pay fines on the spot for a total amount of €2,523, as well as a €1,500 fine for incorrect use of coloured diesel. Officers immobilised the lorry and transferred its load to a new one in order to comply with all legal provisions in this area.
Customs officers noted that the load of another inspected lorry had slipped in such a way as to present a real safety risk, because the goods had not been secured with sufficient straps. The driver was only able to continue his journey after 36 hours (the time needed to re-stack the load and secure it satisfactorily) and after paying a €250 fine.
Another serious violation was observed in a lorry with a trailer with only one strap to secure a load totaling 23 tonnes. Since the trailer did not have enough tie-down points to secure the 26 missing straps, the load had to be secured with non-slip mats. The driver was allowed to continue his journey only after paying a €250 fine.
As part of this customs control campaign that took place between 22 and 26 February 2021, officers drew up two reports and issued 87 fines for a total amount of €25,411.
