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Drivers based outside the United Kingdom will be limited to three jobs on each trip to the UK, according to cabotage rules from the European Parliament which come into force early next year.

Under the new rules, international hauliers delivering to a fellow member state will be allowed to carry out a maximum of three domestic jobs within seven days, replacing the current arrangement which specifies that cabotage is ad hoc and occasional.

Jack Semple, Road  Haulage Association director of policy, says the cabotage deal is the best that could realistically have been achieved. "I am also pleased that the specification that a transport manager must have 140 hours' training has been removed," he says. "We can live with this regulation."

Consultation with the Department for Transport will take place before the regulation comes into force in the UK.

However, the new rules may only be in place for a few years. After a review of the market in 2013 by the European Commission, full liberalisation of cabotage could follow in 2014.

Meanwhile, the EC legislation will also set a limit on the number of firms that a transport manager can control anywhere within the EU.

The Access to the Profession Regulation stipulates that a transport manager must not manage more than four operations with a total  of 50 vehicles. They must have a "genuine link to the undertaking" and "effectively and continuously manage the activities", and they must hold a certificate of professional competence (CPC) arranged by their member state. This replaces an earlier proposal that transport managers should have a minimum 140 hours' training.

The regulation sets out the conditions for an operator to be admitted to the road transport profession including repute, financial standing and professional competence. Criteria on which good repute will be withdrawn include drug and human trafficking and other criminal offences by the company or its managers.

The legislation also sets out government responsibilities. Member states must set up national electronic registers detailing operators' finances, addresses, management and previous offences. The registers go pan-European in 2012 so that enforcement agencies can share information on serial offenders.

To put an end to 'letter-box' companies, where a firm registers in one state but operates in another, an operator must prove that it is genuinely established in a member state by providing documentation and details of operating centres to the authorities.