The Trailer Industry Association demands reform of the EU driving licence law in the new legislative period

The driving licence law with five classes, in the form that it existed up to and including 1998, should ideally be restored.

The Board of the Trailer Industry Association (TIV), sent a letter to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, after consulting with members of the Transport Committee of the German Bundestag. The goal of the association is to greatly simplify the current driving licence law,d due to the fact that, in its opinion, its complexity creates unnecessary obstacles, confusion and costs, without providing any additional security. The board association feels this threatens the existence of the German and European trailer industry in the long term. TIV is the representation of interests of 22 trailer-producing, mainly medium-sized enterprises with some 7,000 employees in total.

The current driving licence regulations in the EU necessitate a more detailed analysis for anyone who wants to drive a car with a trailer: not only the fact that different vehicle trailers each require different driving licence classes, but also the fact that depending on the weight of the used car, the same trailer may require different driving licence classes. It is then easy to lose track of what’s what. This creates uncertainties and is, for instance, particularly problematic for workshops, operators of driving schools, voluntary fire brigades, and not least the manufacturers of trailers.                                          

In a meeting with members of the Transport Committee in the German Bundestag on 19 May, the board, together with the deputy chairman of the German Federal Association of Driver Training Associations (BVF), Kurt Bartels, highlighted the problems of the complexity of the driving licence legislation in Germany.

After the meeting, MdB (Member of the German Parliament) Gero Storjohann from the CDU / CSU faction in the German Bundestag concluded: "The variety of driving licences permitting people to drive vehicles with trailers needs to be revised."

The meeting was attended by the association’s chairman of the board, Michael Jursch, and board member Dr. Uwe Meyer, who is also the spokesman of the TIV “Driving Licences” Working Group, and the Board member, Gunnar Bregler. In cooperation with the authorities and legislators, the association particularly wants to contribute towards safe, but also user-friendly, developments of the EU driving licence regulations. Dr. Uwe Meyer stated: "The current European driving licence legislation makes the use of a practical, inexpensive and environmentally friendly means of transport more difficult and threatens many jobs at SMEs, especially in Germany. We are therefore working to ensure a reform of the complex rules."

The chairman of the associaton Michael Jursch added: "Ideally, the driving licence law with five classes, in the form that it has existed up to and including 1998, should be restored.”

The TIV is also supported in this endeavour by the Federal Association of Driver Training Associations e.V. (BVF). This is because not only the trailer manufacturers criticise the complex EU driving licence regulations, but also the driving schools because, in order to be able to teach the different drivers' licence classes, they have to provide several vehicles, many of which cannot be operated economically.