Government proposes amendments to regulation on professional qualifications in road transport

The Government proposes that the professional qualification requirements for lorry, bus and coach drivers set out in the Driving Licence Act and the Act on Transport Services be updated to meet the requirements in EU regulation. In this context, amendments are also proposed to the Government Decree on Professional Qualifications of Lorry, Bus and Coach Drivers.

The amendments to the Acts would implement the changes made to the Directive on driving licences and the Directive on the initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers. Some of the changes would be implemented by amending the Government Decree on the Professional Qualifications of Lorry, Bus and Coach Drivers.

The amendment to the Directive on professional qualifications concerns the content and implementation of vocational qualification training, in particular the use of ICT tools in training, and the mutual recognition of periodic training in another Member State, and the exchange of information between Member States for supervision purposes. The Directive amendments also specify those situations where no professional qualifications are needed.

The changes in the Directive on driving licences are related to the amendments to the Directive on professional qualifications.

Changes independent from the Directive also made

The Government also proposes that, at the same time, a number of amendments be made that are not covered by the Directive. Among the most important ones are the amendment applying to the storage of documents on professional qualifications of lorry, bus and coach drivers as well as the addition to the Driving Licence Act according to which night-time epileptic seizures would be considered equal with seizures that happen while awake. In addition, the amendment to the Driving Licence Act will clarify the details regarding the maintenance of student records in driving schools.

What are the next steps?

On 16 April 2020, the Government submitted its proposal to Parliament to amend the Driving Licence Act and the Act on Transport Services.

A preliminary debate will be held on the proposal in a plenary session. The timetable for the debate will be listed on Parliament's website. After the referral debate, the proposal will be sent to a committee. Once the committee's report is ready, the matter will be again discussed in a plenary session.

The main parts of the legislative amendments are meant to enter into force on 23 May 2020.

Inquiries:

Saara Louko, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 50 530 1472

Monika Mutanen, Senior Officer, tel. +358 50 478 4820

Sini Wirén, Director of Unit, tel. +358 40 507 0916, Twitter @WirenSini