EU Licence to Drive

As of this week all European consumers that get a new driving license (or exchange the old one) will receive the same plastic "credit card" with a standard EU format. The harmonisation aims to limit driving license fraud and to improve road safety across the EU.

"Traffic police across Europe are currently expected to recognise more than 100 different types of paper and plastic driving licence. ID photos may be long out of date, the categories for which the driver is licenced unclear and the document may be easy to forge. Fake driving licences are a licence to kill, that is why we need licences which are easy to read, easy to understand and very difficult to falsify". (New European Driving Licence)

Towards removing hurdles to single market

The European Parliament adopted yesterday a non-binding resolution addressing consumers' concerns with regards to the single market. In the resolution the Members of the European Parliament point out specific cases in which the lack of sufficient, uniform protection given to consumers throughout Europe is especially visible (banking services, vehicle registration, recognition of qualifications etc.). See our earlier post on this subject: Addressing consumers' concerns.

Addressing consumers' concerns

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee of the European Parliament adopted a nonbinding resolution this Tuesday in which it points out to the failures of the internal, single market that prevent consumers from using their rights effectively. The Committee addressed 20 main consumers' concerns based on the independent survey that was conducted in 2011 (The Single Market through the lens of the people: A snapshot of citizens' and businesses' 20 main concerns). The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on this proposal in October. (Member States must stop dragging their feet...) Some of the main concerns that it argues should be handled and solved by the European Commission are:

• administrative problems consumers face while importing cars from one Member State to another (suggested solution: MS should recognise each other's technical controls and simplify car registration process)
•  complicated procedures of opening a bank account (solution: universal access to basic banking services for European citizens)
• difficulties with having one's professional qualifications recognised (solution: European professional card)
• lack of information about the single market (solution: regular European interactive, informative campaigns)

Towards no stress driving

Today, the European Commission presented a proposal for simplifying car registration rules in the EU. The Commission considers vehicle registration problems to be among the main difficulties European citizens face in their daily lives and seeks to improve the regulatory framework for this problem.

The European Commission's memo on the proposal provides some interesting facts and figures, such as:

'- There are more than 300 million registered cars, buses, trucks and vans in Europe. Most of these will not be concerned by this proposal which concerns only the cars, buses, trucks and vans that frequently go across the borders within the EU. It is estimated that 3.5 million vehicles are transferred to another Member State per year.

 - In the period 2000-2011, the Commission handled 114 official complaints about car registration problems while the Court of Justice delivered 17 judgments and orders about car registration.

- Three quarters of the public authorities say they contact the registration authorities in the Member State, where the motor vehicle was previously registered, in order to get information needed for re-registration. Moreover all respondents' confirm having problems when dealing with registration authorities.'

The Commission's proposal introduces the principle that a car should be registered in the EU country where its owner lives. Other Member States may not ask her or him to register the car with them, even if the car owner spends a longer period there. According to the proposal, the same principle applies for companies: cars, buses, vans and trucks should be registered in the EU country where the main office is established. 

Furthermore, the proposal is considered to be beneficial for the tourism industry: According to the Commission's expectations, car-rental companies will save substantially under the new rules, as they will be able to transfer cars to another EU country during the holiday periods without re-registration. This could result in lower prices for renting a car during the holidays.

See the European Commission's press release and website for further information.