Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the training of professional drivers for the carriage of goods or passengers by road"
Date: 2001-07-11
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, drivers, road transport, vocational training

C 260/90

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

17.9.2001

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the training of professional drivers for the carriage of goods or
passengers by road’

(2001/C 260/16)

On 21 February 2001 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article
71 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which was responsible for
preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 6 June 2001. The rapporteur was
Mr Kielman.

At its 383rd plenary session of 11 and 12 July 2001 (meeting of 11 July) the Economic and Social
Committee unanimously adopted the following opinion.

1.

Introduction

service; it will also make for improved driver efficiency and
will have a beneficial impact on employment.

1.1.
Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 of 20 December 1985
on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to
road transport lays down requirements for the vocational
training of professional drivers for the carriage of goods or
passengers by road.

1.6.
The harmonised introduction of generalised compul-
sory training is also a practical example of the combined
approach sought in Europe, with the opening up of the
transport market and growth in competition going hand-in-
hand with harmonisation of social matters and conditions of
employment.

competence

The content of the training which leads to the certificate
1.2.
of professional
specified in Directive
is
76/914/EEC. An annex to this directive states that ‘training
leading to the award of a certificate of professional competence
shall include at least the following subjects, to the extent that
they are not already covered by training for a driving licence’.

1.7.
The proposal for a directive develops a Community
framework which encompasses the existing vocational training
under Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85 and offers a way of
solving specific problems of the road haulage market, such as
recruiting new drivers and ensuring that drivers have the
requisite skills.

1.3.
The regulation and the directive are out of date. The
regulation dates from 1985 and the directive from 1976. The
content of training is therefore particularly out of date, where
it is not covered by Community rules relating to the driving
licence (Directive 91/439/EEC).

2. General comments

1.4.
Except in two countries, France and the Netherlands,
there is no Community requirement to undertake professional
training, which means that most professional drivers pursue
their occupation on the basis of the driving licence alone.
There are of course stricter requirements for certain kinds of
goods transport, such as the transport of dangerous substances.

2.1.
The Committee agrees with the Commission that an
end needs to be put to a situation where professional drivers
involved in the transport of goods and passengers by road can
operate without any form of professional training. It also
for compulsory
endorses the — pragmatic — proposal
minimum basic training, of the kind already existing in the
Netherlands and France.

The Commission considers the introduction of solid
1.5.
basic and continuous training to be important in the interests
of improved road safety, safety during stops and standard of

2.2.
The Committee also concurs with the Commission as
to the problems which the introduction of full basic training
over a total of 420 hours would pose. Compulsory full basic
training would create problems in the labour market. Even
now there is a considerable shortage of skilled drivers.

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2.3.
The required basic minimum training takes 210 hours,
distributed over six 35-hour weeks, i.e. half the number of
hours required for the full training course. It is compulsory for
all new drivers, regardless of their age or of the category of
vehicles they will be driving. The introduction of this basic
minimum training will, the Committee feels, provide younger
drivers with the necessary professional skills. The proposed
length of the training needs to be studied in the light of
existing training arrangements and the requirements for the
driving licence and professional competence in the Member
States. The possibility of increasing the number of training
hours in the short term should be studied.

In addition to the minimum basic training, the Com-
2.4.
mission proposal also makes provision for compulsory con-
tinuous training — five days every five years. In conjunction
with the proposed minimum basic training, this appears to be
a good solution, particularly given that experience in France
has shown continuous training to be beneficial.

The Committee endorses the Commission’s proposal
2.5.
that professional drivers already working at the time of the
directive’s entry into force be exempted from the minimum
basic training requirements, but also agrees that this category
of driver should nonetheless have to undertake continuous
training every five years. In practice this amounts to one day a
year.

3.2.
The Committee does not understand what the Com-
mission means by the statement in the explanatory memor-
andum that basic training will help to improve road safety
‘during stops’. The Committee asks the Commission to clarify
this.

3.3.
The Committee feels that the explanatory memor-
andum to the proposal and the annex on minimum vocational
training requirements do not make it clear whether full basic
training will take 420 hours or 630. The Commission has
indicated that this ambiguity is the result of printing/translation
errors and has confirmed that full training will total 420 hours.

In Article 9 the Commission states that professional
3.4.
drivers are to undergo basic and continuous vocational training
in the Member State in which they are normally resident in
order to prevent ‘driving licence tourism’. As in the same
article the Commission proposes the mutual recognition
the Committee considers it
of diplomas and certificates,
unimportant where a professional driver undergoes his basic
or continuous training. It feels that restricting choice to the
Member State of normal residence is inconsistent with the
proposal for mutual recognition.

2.6.
The Commission suggests that criteria be laid down
for the approval of training bodies. The Committee does not
consider this particularly important, however. What is much
more important is that objective criteria be laid down for
the testing of training bodies, preferably by the competent
authorities of the Member State in question.

3.5.
The Committee feels that in its proposal the Com-
mission does not place enough emphasis on the qualitative
aspect, e.g. the examination standards to be maintained by the
Member States. The Committee considers that high-quality
examinations are the only way to ensure that the individuals
in question are actually trained. This aspect is therefore as
important as the length of the training itself.

3. Specific comments

The Committee is not sure what target group the
3.1.
Commission has in mind. Article 2 of the proposal for a
directive defines professional drivers as drivers engaged in the
transportation of goods or passengers ‘for payment’. Do self-
employed drivers fall under this definition or not? The
Commission has given the Committee to understand that all
goods vehicle drivers not listed among the exemptions set out
in Article 3 of the proposal for a directive are covered by the
definition, providing that they are using vehicles of more than
3.5 tonnes capacity. Drivers of passenger vehicles are covered
if more than nine persons including the driver are being
transported.

3.6.
The Commission proposes that trainers should have
five years practical experience as professional drivers and
should have completed a full course of basic and continuous
training. The Committee feels that this is too restrictive. It
wonders whether it will be possible to find sufficient training
staff complying with these requirements. The Commission
must at all events incorporate a multi-year transitional arrange-
ments into the directive to ensure that
the qualification
requirements for trainers can be complied with.

3.7.
The Committee points out the need also to apply this
directive to the candidate countries on accession, in order to
secure road safety in an enlarged EU and to avoid distortions
of competition.

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4. Summary and conclusions

In general the Committee endorses the Commission’s
4.1.
proposal for the introduction of compulsory minimum basic
training for professional drivers combined with periodic testing
of the required qualifications, if necessary followed by specific
further training every five years. This will above all contribute
to greater road safety and improved services, as well as having
a beneficial effect on employment.

4.2.
The Committee feels that the Commission should
specify the target group of the proposal. What does ‘for
payment’ mean? The Commission should also clarify its
statement that basic and continuous training will help improve
road safety ‘during stops’.

4.3.
on the quantitative aspect,

The Committee feels that the Commission concentrates
i.e. the minimum number of

training hours, paying insufficient attention to examination
standards.

4.4.
The Commission proposes that professional drivers
should have to undergo basic and continuous vocational
training in the Member State in which they are normally
resident. This appears consistent with the rules laid down in
the directive on driving licences. The Committee wonders,
however, whether this provision is not unnecessarily restrictive
in relation to basic and continuous training, particularly as
the Commission also proposes the introduction of mutual
recognition of diplomas and certificates.

Finally, the Committee points out that the requirements
4.5.
proposed by the Commission for trainers,
five years
practical experience as a professional driver and full basic and
continuous training, will make it very difficult to find sufficient
qualified staff. The Committee suggests that the Commission
reconsider this part of the proposal.

i.e.

Brussels, 11 July 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS