Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Transport

The Commission announced in November 2015 that it has decided to refer the Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to correctly transpose the European rules on driving licenses, in particular by not connecting to the EU driving licenses network RESPER.

The exchange of information through RESPER should have started on January 19, 2013.

Estonia linked up to RESPER on Dec. 21, 2015.

The formal decision on whether or not the Commission will refer Estonia to the Court of Justice is due this week.  

Sander Salmu, head of the service for road transport and traffic at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, said in November that Estonia transposed the EU driving licenses' directive on time, but its connecting to the driving licenses network became stalled for technical reasons.

The RESPER network is intended to help member states cooperate with each other and ensure that driving licenses are issued in accordance with EU rules. The use of RESPER helps member states to ensure that a person does not hold more than one license, which is necessary in order to ensure that drivers only drive vehicles in categories for which they are qualified and authorized.