Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The third meeting of the Public Council in the “Transport” sector, organized by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Kristian Krastev concluded. During the meeting various proposals relatеd to the combating the grey sector in transport were discussed.  

Representatives of the organizations within the industry proposed to introduce an Electronic registry for the candidates acquire driving licenses, to allow the electronic submission of examination documents, as well as an electronic version for conducting the draw for the chairman of examination boards, with a possibility of online tracking.

The possibility of introducing tablet-based theory exams for all categories by the end of 2013 was discussed.  It was considered  an inspection of training centers which offer prices much lower than the market ones. Representatives of professional organizations also declared that the training of candidates for obtaining driving licenses which is carried out in schools and universities also contributes to unfair competition. These entities are subsidized by the state and are largely exempt from taxes.

Representatives of the bus and freight industry suggested an opinion of necessity to take all possible measures to reduce the grey sector in transport. According to them, there are licensed carriers with five or more buses and still they are not registered for VAT. Another problem was highlighted by the industry - illegal transport by buses and cars that take customers from legal carriers and bus stops. Carriers greeted Road Administration on making efforts to solve the problem and called for increasing joint checks between different institutions. There was a suggestion for checking the number of buses and trucks registered and how many of them are not holding licenses and still operating illegally.

With regard to the proposals, Executive Agency "Automobile Administration" expressed their position of supporting the demands of the industry. They are already working on some of the requests, and the rest will be considered and solved.

The Executive Director of EA "Automobile Administration" Valentin Bozhkov said that a week ago a public tender for selection of a contractor to develop an Electronic register for acquiring licenses for driving started. He added that by the end of this year Automobile Administration will be able to hold tablet-based tests. The approved schedule sets 2016 as deadline for full implementation. However 50% of candidates have taken the electronic exam.  

With regard to the control of the training centers the Executive Director announced such control was carried out two weeks ago. All training centers should have contracts with the technical staff, which is essential to the operation of training centers. In case of absence of such agreements sanctions and closure of businesses offenders will be imposed.

From EA "Automobile Administration" stated that for transparency on revenue from taxi services there is a proposal for induction of patent tax.

Cntrol at bus stations continues. For the first time EA "Automobile Administration" found infringement and penalized bus granting equality of carriers, punishable by a fine in the amount of 10 000 Leva