In 2003, EU Directive 2003/59 was published, a Directive covering the requirements for the initial qualifications and continuous training of professional drivers in all EU member states. This Directive introduces a compulsory certificate of professional competence (in addition to the basic driving license) and obligatory additional training once every five years for all professional drivers. For many countries in Europe, meeting these requirements will require significant changes to both the basic and continuous training systems currently in place.
The primary objective of the CIECA Workshop on the implementation of EU Directive 2003/59/EC dealing with training and testing of professional drivers was to give experts from different EU countries a chance to share experiences and raise questions regarding the requirements of the Directive. The workshop was organised with the support of Eurotra, the European Transport Training association.
The workshop was divided into 4 sessions:
Session 1 = Introducing the directive, a presentation from the European Commission providing some background information about the directive and explaining the aims
Session 2 = Initial qualification, with presentations from 5 EU countries explaining their plans on how to approach the Directive and meet all its requirements.
Session 3 = Continuous training: Eurotra, the European Transport Training association, shared some of their views regarding the continuous training of professional drivers and the consequences the Directive will have for training organisations across Europe.
Session 4 = Simulation and the Directive, a brief presentation of the European RESPECT project looking into the use of simulators in professional driver training.