WRITTEN QUESTION E-0393/01

by Mathieu Grosch (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(15 February 2001)

Subject: Driving licence directive and vision

Driving licence categories and subcategories have been harmonised under Directive 91/439/EEC(1) (the so-called 2nd driving licence directive).

Paragraph 6,2 of Annex III to this directive states that applicants for a driving licence, or for the renewal of such a licence, who have total functional loss of vision in one eye or who use only one eye (e.g. in the case of diplopia) must have a visual acuity of at least 0,6 with corrective lenses if necessary. The competent medical authority must certify that this condition of monocular vision has existed sufficiently long to allow adaption and that the field of vision in this eye is normal.

As a consequence of this provision, a number of people who work as drivers are forced to give up their occupation and, in addition, a section of the population is prevented from entering this occupation, aggravating the difficulties already experienced by the road haulage sector in finding labour.

What compromise solution could the Commission envisage adopting in revising this directive which would be both in the interests of road safety and in the interests of the sector?

(1) OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(4 April 2001)

Annex III of Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on driving licences(1) lays down minimum health criteria, including minimum eyesight criteria, for driving power-driven vehicles. Annex III, point 6.2, of the above Directive applies to holders of and applicants for a Group 1 licence (passenger cars and motorcycles) and thus does not concern professional drivers of buses and lorries. It is this group of drivers (holders of Group 2 licences) that Annex III, point 6.3. refers. It foresees that driving licences shall not be issued to or renewed for applications of drivers without a binocular field of vision or suffering from diplopia. The criteria applicable to professional drivers are thus even more stringent than outlined by the Honourable Member.

Current scientific evidence would support the introduction of an examination of eyesight at regular intervals even for drivers of passenger cars and motorcycles. The evidence deriving from scientific studies commissioned by the Commission also indicates that the eyesight criteria laid down in Annex III may not be stringent enough in view of the requirements of road safety.

As regards drivers who obtained their licence before the rules of the Directive came into force, the Commission is aware of the social implications for those drivers of the subsequent imposition of more stringent rules. The Commission proposal for Directive 91/439/EEC at the time contained a so-called grandfather rights clause, allowing for the maintaining of less stringent health criteria at a national level for those professional drivers, who had obtained their licence before the Directive's entry into force. However, the Council rejected this grandfather rights clause and the Directive was subsequently adopted without it.

Given the practical and social implications of the lack of a grandfather rights clause for professional drivers, the Commission raised the issue on several occasions in 1998 and 1999 within the framework of a Committee on driving licences. Furthermore, the proposal of the introduction of a limited grandfather rights clause for professional drivers is currently being considered in the framework of a substantial amendment to Directive 91/439/EEC. However, the decision on proposing such a clause cannot be prejudiced at the present stage.

(1) OJ L 237, 24.8.1991.