Brussels, 5 December 2024
To improve road safety across Europe, today the EU Transport Council adopted its negotiating position (general approach) on a Commission proposal regarding certain driving disqualifications forming part of the so-called ‘road safety’ legislative package. Under the proposal, the member state which issued the driving licence (‘member state of issuance’) will be obliged to implement, under specific conditions and in accordance with its own national legislation, a driving disqualification imposed on a road traffic offender by another member state where the serious road traffic offence has been committed (‘member state of the offence’).
This is a key piece of legislation for road safety in Europe. By ending the relative impunity of non-resident serious traffic offenders, the new law – once adopted – will improve safety on European roads. Drivers who had their driving licence withdrawn in one member state for serious breaches to road traffic rules, will be taken off the roads across the EU.
Bálint Nagy, Hungarian minister of state of transport
One of the main objectives of the EU’s transport policy is to improve road safety and to reduce fatalities, injuries, and material damage. An important element of that policy is the consistent enforcement of sanctions for road traffic offences committed in the EU. At their informal meeting in Valletta in March 2017, the EU’s transport ministers called for action on the issue of mutual recognition of driving disqualifications concerning non-resident drivers. The draft directive in question therefore aims to end the relative impunity of non-resident serious road traffic offenders in Europe.
Main elements of the Council’s position
As an alternative approach to the EU-wide effect proposed by the Commission and given that a member state cannot ensure that its national decisions on driving disqualifications are implemented by the other member states, the Council’s position builds on the mechanism for mutual recognition of the driving licences under the new directive on driving licences. The provisions of this directive on recovering the driving licence or applying for a new one after a withdrawal have been also aligned to the new directive on driving licences, which is currently also under negotiation. Furthermore, the Council’s negotiating position contains the following main elements:
Scope of the directive and procedures
The different types of driving disqualifications have been clearly defined, and adaptations have been made so that all member states can implement the directive even when certain types of driving disqualifications do not exist in their national system. To reduce the administrative burden, driving disqualifications with a duration of less than three months and for which the remaining period to be served is less than one month are excluded from the scope of the directive. For the same reason, the information contained in the notification of the driving disqualification, as well as the amount of information to be exchanged between the member state of issuance and the member state of the offence have been limited to the minimum necessary.
Moreover, all information is exchanged in secured digital format, through the EU driving licence network (RESPER) and the use of codes and structured information is privileged. National contact point(s) designated by member states for the purposes of the directive will be granted access to RESPER and will ensure cooperation with the authorities competent for the implementation of the driving disqualifications.
Member states’ flexibilities
According to the Council’s position, the member state of the offence retains the possibility, in accordance with its national rules and with effects limited to its territory, to apply driving disqualifications and any complementary conditions set thereunder until the driver complies with them. The member state of the offence may also impose a period of prohibition for re-issuing a driving licence during which it may decide not to recognize the driving licence that was re-issued in the member state of issuance.
The member state of issuance, on the other hand, retains the possibility to assess the fitness and competence to drive of the driver, and, following that assessment, to take any measures deemed appropriate in accordance with its national law.
Review clause and reporting obligations
A review clause has been introduced notably to assess the possibility of extending the application of the directive to other driving offences or to driving disqualifications imposed in relation to offences committed on multiple occasions by the same driver. Finally, the amount and frequency of data to be reported by member states to the Commission have been reduced and the transposition period has been extended to 3 years.
Next steps
Following today’s adoption of the Council’s negotiating mandate (general approach), the presidency is enabled to enter talks with the European Parliament (‘trilogues’) with a view to a possible early second reading agreement.
Background information
In its EU road safety policy framework 2021-2030, the Commission recommitted to the ambitious aim to get close to zero deaths and zero serious injuries on EU roads by 2050 (“Vision Zero”), as well as to the medium-term goal to reduce deaths and serious injuries by 50% by 2030. However, road fatalities were up 4% last year from 2021, according to latest Commission data. This is still 9 % below pre-pandemic level, but the pace of improvement is not sufficient to reach the above-mentioned goals.
The proposal is part of the “road safety package”, adopted by the Commission on 1 March 2023, which also includes the revision of the directive on driving licences and the revision of the directive on cross-border enforcement of road-safety-related offences. The revised directive on cross-border enforcement is expected to be adopted in the coming weeks while interinstitutional negotiations (trilogues) on the revised directive on driving licences are ongoing.
- Directive on driving disqualifications with a Union-wide effect, Council general approach, 5 December 2024
- Directive on execution of driving disqualifications with a Union-wide effect, Commission proposal, 1 March 2023