Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 91/439/EEC on driving licences` ()

(96/C 204/07)

On 22 March 1996, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 75 of the Treaty, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Transport and Communications, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 10 April 1996. The Rapporteur was Mr Donovan.

At its 335th Plenary Session (meeting of 24 April 1996), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following Opinion by 108 votes for, three votes against and four abstentions.

1. Introduction

1.1. The Community model for national driving licences established for the first time by Directive 80/1263/EEC () has been adapted to take account in particular of the harmonization of the categories of vehicles and to make it easier for everybody to 'read` the licence in Directive 91/439/EEC which comes into force on 1 July 1996.

1.2. Directive 91/439/EEC () provides in Article 4.1 'Driving licences shall state the conditions on which the driver is authorized to drive` and it goes on to say in Annex I that pages 3 and 4 of the licence shall contain '... any additional information or restrictions in code form for each (sub) category concerned`. The Annex also states that code numbers 1-99 should represent harmonized Community codes whilst 100 and over should represent national codes valid only for driving in the territory of the State which issued the licence.

2. The Commission proposal

2.1. An amendment to the above Directive is now proposed in order to:

- adopt a basic harmonized set of codes for these additional references on the licences and their operating principles as required by the Directive (Article 1);

- establish a committee to advise the Commission on any matters relating to the Annexes of Directive 91/439/EEC arising from scientific and technical progress (Article 2);

- redraft Article 3, paragraph 3, indent No 3 of Directive 91/439/EEC to make it more in line with trade description including the reduction of the maximum designed speed criterion from 50 km/h to 45 km/h.

3. General comments

3.1. These proposals by the Commission are a logical follow on and an important fleshing out of the earlier Directives, coming into force on 1 July 1996 particular insofar as the use and harmonizing of codes to facilitate the 'reading` of licences is concerned.

3.2. The establishment of a committee to assist the Commission and to keep it informed is crucially important to provide the necessary flexibility within the Directive for the revision or otherwise of references as may be required by scientific, technical or administrative changes and developments.

3.3. The Commission proposal is yet another useful step towards increased safety on the roads and facilitating the mutual recognition of driving licences and consequently the free movement of persons within Europe.

3.4. The ESC wholeheartedly supports the proposed Directive.

Done at Brussels, 24 April 1996.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Carlos FERRER

() OJ No C 110, 16. 4. 1996, p. 7.

() OJ No L 375, 31. 12. 1980, p. 1; OJ No C 197, 23. 8. 1976, p. 32.

() OJ No L 237, 24. 8. 1991, p. 1; OJ No C 159, 26. 6. 1989, p. 21.