Memorandum for comments: Legislative changes to increase trust in taxi services

The Ministry of Transport and Communications requests comments on a memorandum assessing necessary changes to the legislation on taxi operations to rectify the shortcomings. Comments on the memorandum can be submitted until 21 June 2024.

The memorandum contains proposals for legislative changes. The aim is to increase trust in taxi services and improve safety. 

The memorandum primarily explores the regulatory means to influence the operations and operators in the taxi service sector. Besides this, the memorandum discusses the practices in the sector, cooperation between authorities and other means to influence the operations related to taxi services. 

The memorandum presents preliminary proposals to strengthen the professional skills of drivers and safety and security of the sector, introduce stricter conditions for the taxi transport licence and improve the supervision of training and examinations. The memorandum also examines means to combat the grey economy, make it easier to recognise taxis and improve the presentation of information on prices

– The memorandum contains a large number of concrete proposals for restoring trust in taxi services. We aim to truly improve the legislation on taxi operations, with a key focus on safety. We hope to receive large numbers of comments from stakeholders so that we can build the best possible outcome,” says Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne.

Means to strengthen professional skills and safety

The safety of taxis will be improved by strengthening the drivers’ professional skills. The memorandum proposes to reintroduce the mandatory training for taxi drivers. The performance of driver’s examinations would be changed by introducing different kinds of qualifying periods and improving the supervision of the examinations. 

To ensure the quality of the operator’s examinations better than now, the responsibility for them would be transferred to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. At present the training and examinations for operators are provided by organisations approved by Traficom. The memorandum proposes more detailed qualification requirements for the organisations providing training. 

A wider range of criminal convictions would be an obstacle to obtaining a taxi driving licence, including possession of a dangerous object, fraud and means of payment offence. Safety would be increased by making it easier to recognise taxis and improving the presentation of information on prices. The proposal is to amend the act in such a way that a traffic penalty fee could be imposed for inadequate or defective taxi lights or signs and presentation of information on prices. The supervision of taxis would be made more effective by linking the vehicle to the taxi transport licence. 

The memorandum presents different kinds of options for combating the grey economy. Information has a key role in this. According to the memorandum, the Ministry of Transport and Communications will continue the preparations by further exploring the possibility to collect information on taxi operations into a new cloud-based system. 

Aim to increase trust in taxi service sector 

The implementation of a legislative project concerning taxis is included in the Government Programme. In summer 2023 the Ministry started a process to prepare actions by which the shortcomings in the sector can be corrected and trust in taxi services increased. 

Next steps

Comments on the memorandum can be submitted until 21 June 2024. All organisations and private individuals may submit comments at www.lausuntopalvelu.fi.

Officials at the Ministry will continue legislative drafting based on feedback from the consultation. A draft government proposal for the legislative amendments will be circulated for comments towards the end of 2024 and the final proposal is to be submitted to Parliament during the 2025 spring session.

Inquiries

Requests for interviews with Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne:
Maaria Wallin, Special Adviser, maaria.wallin(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 295 342 236

Sissi Kohtala, Senior Specialist, sissi.kohtala(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 295 342 208
Emil Asp, Director of Unit, emil.asp(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 295 342 498