Area: Okolje in prostor
Competent authority: MzI
EZU URL: .nan
Initiative ID: 122
Initiative accepted and completed: '2013-06-04'
Initiative classified in EZU: .nan
Initiative forwarded in response: '2013-05-15'
Initiative published: '2013-05-15'
Initiative submitted: '2013-05-15'
Response from the competent authority: "\"At the outset, we would like to point out\
  \ that the author of the petition has incorrect data when he speaks about the number\
  \ of candidates appearing for the TK test. The number of candidates varies between\
  \ 10 and 30, depending on the date and the authorised centre for obtaining the TK.\
  \  The members of the Commission, whom the author claims to be earning a fat salary,\
  \ do indeed receive an allowance as laid down in the by-law, but this sum is for\
  \ their work in the afternoons, which is devoted to the preparation and correction\
  \ of the tests and the issuing of the certificates. It should be noted that this\
  \ is a gross amount on which VAT is deducted and the remainder is subject to income\
  \ tax. The amounts earned by the members of the Commission are paid on the basis\
  \ of subcontracts and are quite transparent and verifiable, and can be checked at\
  \ any time by any of the country's supervisory institutions. When the author speaks\
  \ of the Commission being selected along party or partisan lines, he is again quoting\
  \ lump-sum estimates and figures. Directive 2003/59/EC of the European Parliament\
  \ and of the Council of 15 July 2003 on the basic qualifications and periodic training\
  \ of drivers of certain road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers entered\
  \ into force in 2008, when it was implemented in the Road Transport Act. The then\
  \ management of the former Ministry of Transport, now the Ministry of Infrastructure\
  \ and Spatial Planning (hereinafter referred to as MzIP), selected 15 experts in\
  \ the field of commercial road transport on the basis of professional criteria,\
  \ not only from the Ministry, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OZS), the Chamber\
  \ of Commerce and Industry (GZS), as stated in the initiative, but also members\
  \ of the Commission of the Association of Chauffeurs and Mechanics of the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia (Z\u0160AM) and prominent professors in the field of transport at\
  \ Slovenian faculties attended the Commission. The Commission also includes members\
  \ from the Slovenian economy. The Commission functioned in its original form until\
  \ 21 February 2013, when the then Minister responsible for transport replaced it\
  \ in an unusual manner, without any valid reason being established, with members\
  \ of the party in power and their sympathisers, who in any case did not meet the\
  \ professional conditions for serving on the Commission. The current Minister of\
  \ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after taking office, dismissed the Commission\
  \ appointed in this way and by decision gave the work of the Commission to the old\
  \ - professionally vetted - Commission (during the time of its operation, the Ministry\
  \ was headed by 4 different Ministers). We submit our position below, in accordance\
  \ with the points raised in the petition; 1. To examine the appropriateness of this\
  \ way of implementing the TPK. I propose that all TPK should be carried out by driving\
  \ schools which teach C,D,E categories as part of their programmes. In short, a\
  \ system should be arranged so that a driver who passes one of the higher categories\
  \ will automatically obtain TPK as part of the training. In the CPP course we would\
  \ add some more content on transport on the tests and the CPP pole would contain\
  \ an additional part which is the minimum required for obtaining a TPK. The driving\
  \ test would take place at the same time before the driving test board as at present,\
  \ and the elements required for the CPP would be added.The organisation and delivery\
  \ of the CPP programmes is already carried out by the transport centres, which also\
  \ have training for the categories of driving licences in their programmes. As these\
  \ are completely different training programmes, the automatism you propose is not\
  \ feasible. The learning to obtain a category of driving licence is purely a test\
  \ of knowledge of road traffic rules and driving, whereas in the case of TC, the\
  \ test is linked to the knowledge required to successfully pursue the profession\
  \ of 'professional driver'. If a single commission were to be set up for both areas,\
  \ the question arises as to the professional competence of the members who would\
  \ participate in a single commission for such different areas. An additional problem\
  \ could also arise for those candidates who do not have a TK but do have a category,\
  \ if the organisation were different. Similarly, candidates coming from third countries\
  \ who have a driving licence issued in their own country but do not have a TK, which\
  \ they need to work as a driver for a Slovenian haulier. This means that they would\
  \ have to take an additional test just for the TK, which would also not be free,\
  \ so speculating on whether something would be cheaper or more expensive could be\
  \ pure speculation.2The renewal of the TPK should take place once every five years,\
  \ or when there are really big changes in the legislation, because even that is\
  \ torturing people every year, collecting large sums of money and repeating more\
  \ or less the same things, because there are not that many new things.Directive\
  \ 2006/59 EC makes the training of professional drivers compulsory, except for exceptions,\
  \ and requires 35 hours over five years.This is because it is not the same as the\
  \ training of professional drivers. The Directive is in force and has been implemented\
  \ in our regulations, as European legislation otherwise provides. It follows that\
  \ the \"torture\" you are talking about was not invented by us, but is laid down\
  \ in a Directive issued by the EC and applies to all professional drivers resident\
  \ in a Member State, or to those professional drivers coming from third countries\
  \ who are employed by companies established in a Member State. In agreement with\
  \ Slovenian hauliers and drivers, the Regulation on the content, method and procedure\
  \ for obtaining the basic qualification for drivers of motor vehicles in road transport\
  \ (Official Journal of the Republic of Slovenia, No 26/07 and 33/08, 49/09, 103/10\
  \ and 63/2012) has enabled the subject training to be carried out in a number of\
  \ different ways, including 7 hours each year, so as to accumulate the required\
  \ 35 hours over a period of 5 years. Drivers are also not forced to do annual training\
  \ and can choose to do the 35 hours of training in the last year before the 95 code\
  \ expires. In addition, the prices for 7 hours of training on the market are currently\
  \ not \u20AC80 as stated, but between \u20AC19 and \u20AC40. The differences in\
  \ prices between providers are logical, as they depend on the number of candidates,\
  \ discounts and other circumstances of the provider.The MzIP representative in the\
  \ EC working group on TC and training of professional drivers has already proposed\
  \ several times in his interventions at the meetings in Brussels to reduce the mandatory\
  \ training from 35 to 21 hours, as also proposed by the IRU and several other MS\
  \ representatives in the working group. 3. I know that there is a European directive\
  \ behind this, the only problem is the way it is implemented in Slovenia, which\
  \ is extremely corruption-risking and complicated, precisely because of the involvement\
  \ of civil servants in the implementation.In other EU countries, the acquisition\
  \ of TK is organised in a similar way as in Slovenia, but there are no such concerns\
  \ about corruption risk. This would certainly avoid the controversial activities\
  \ of civil servants of a line ministry who invent a system in order to make a fat\
  \ buck in the afternoon.Certainly, integrity is at stake here and the corruption\
  \ risk is too high.As already mentioned, the acquisition of TK and regular training\
  \ was not invented by Ministry officials, but is an obligation enshrined in Directive\
  \ 2006/59 and the Road Transport Act. The author's position can be understood as\
  \ being in full possession of information about the fat earnings of the Ministry's\
  \ officials, and we therefore call on him to hand over the supporting documents\
  \ to the institutions in the Republic of Slovenia that are therefore authorised\
  \ to do so. This is, after all, also in the interest of the MzIP. Otherwise, these\
  \ allegations may be interpreted as an intention to use the familiar language of\
  \ some who, for their own interests unknown to us, want to tear down an education\
  \ system that has been in place for many years.   5. This would also result in uniform\
  \ and low prices for the examination fee. The driving test would be administered\
  \ by the driving test boards that we have, and the revenue would go directly into\
  \ the budget instead of into the pockets of the organisers and the civil servants\
  \ who work for them in the afternoons. For drivers, the test would be much cheaper\
  \ and entry into the labour market much easier. For someone who is unemployed, it\
  \ is too much of a cost.The fact that we would get uniform and low prices for the\
  \ test is just an assumption on the part of the author. As has been said many times\
  \ before, the members of the driving licence examination boards are also civil servants,\
  \ but unfortunately they are not qualified to test the knowledge also for obtaining\
  \ a TK . Driving schools also now organise and run both programmes. And, of course,\
  \ they charge for this programme, both for obtaining driving categories and for\
  \ obtaining the TK. If the organisation and implementation of TK were to be taken\
  \ over by a state institution, which cannot be a driving school because there are\
  \ none in Slovenia, this would be a direct burden on the state budget. And who,\
  \ in the author's opinion, would be able to carry out the TK tests, if it were not\
  \ the civil servants who cover the subject area and are the link between the working\
  \ group within the EC and the MzIP, and who, in the author's opinion, would be able\
  \ to do it in the afternoon free of charge, if, of course, we exclude the civil\
  \ servants from this system. It is difficult to organise the driving test in the\
  \ morning, because in most cases the population is busy in the morning.Of course,\
  \ we do not think that the current organisation of the education system for professional\
  \ drivers is optimal. We promise to consider your comments carefully, as well as\
  \ others, and to decide how to proceed on the basis of our findings.\""
Text file: 122.txt
Title: Reduce costs
URL: https://www.stopbirokraciji.gov.si/pobuda/?st=122
