On 06.12.2018, the National Council of the Slovak Republic adopted the Act no. 9/2019 Coll., which amends the Act no. 56/2012 Coll. on road transport as amended and which amends other acts (“the Amendment”).

The Amendment shall contribute to more adequate conditions and overall simplification of the prerequisites for running a business and operating a taxi service, in order for them to reflect the needs of practical life in the broadest extent possible and simultaneously, it shall contribute to a creation of an effective control mechanism in the taxi service sphere. The purpose of the Amendment is the prevention of potential illegal practices in taxi service business. The Amendment also reacts to a current modern technology (so called sharing economy) and one of the most important innovations introduced by the Amendment is a legal regulation of a provision for passenger transport via a digital platform.

Taxi service / road transport

The term operation of a taxi service and the term operation of a road transport are more consistently differentiated by the Amendment. This is also connected to changes in conditions for the operation of a taxi service. Some conditions, which come into effect under the Amendment, have been applied solely to the road transport operators. This involves conditions related to financial credibility and professional competence. These conditions will simultaneously not apply in granting a taxi service operator a license. To obtain this license, a taxi rank and a garage for the taxi service vehicle will no longer be required. On the contrary, other obligations, such as residence, place of business or holding a seat in the Slovak Republic or another member state of the European Union, will be added as prerequisites in the granting of the taxi service operator’s license. As a condition for granting the taxi service operator’s license, it will remain the integrity, which will be modified specifically for the taxi service operators, the dispatching operators and drivers of the taxi service vehicles. With regard to the integrity, the main change will be that the integrity will no longer possess a person lawfully convicted for a negligent crime relating to traffic or provision of services to clients (unless the conviction is expunged) and a person during the sanction of prohibition of taxi service operation or dispatching imposed by a relevant transport authority. A demonstration of the integrity will be possible though not only by an extract from a judicial record but also from a registration card of the driver.

As opposed to the current legislation, the Amendment will no longer determine the possibility of renewal of the license after the lapse of its validation. From the above mentioned it may be concluded that in cases where the validation of the license expires (i.e. 10 years, unless an applicant applies for a shorter period of validation), it will be necessary to file a new application in granting a taxi service operator license.

The Amendment changes also conditions for the driver of the taxi service’s vehicle card. The issue of the card will no longer be connected to the age of 21 years or professional competence. However, a physical and mental capacity to conduct a vehicle will be required.

With respect to the technological development, the Amendment provides the drivers of the taxi service vehicles with a possibility to send the passenger a confirmation of paid fares via electronic devices.

Procurement of the transport services / dispatching

The Amendment provides for a definition of dispatching, which means a procurement of the passenger transport services by vehicles with a capacity of maximum 9 seats including the driver via a phone, digital platform or other means, as some platforms of sharing economy providing road transport currently work through such a manner.

Pursuant to the Amendment, the operation of the dispatch will be considered as a form of business and the taxi service operator license or an authorization to operate the dispatching will be necessary in order to perform the dispatching in compliance with law. The dispatching operators will be also subjected to new obligations (for example to draft a transport code, or to procure the transport solely through the taxi service operators and taxi service vehicles registered in the license). With respect to this fact, new “other administrative offences” of the dispatching operators are also introduced, the aim of which is the enforcement of legislation adherence.

As a result of the above-mentioned, the current popular passenger transport procurement through various phone applications and computer programs will come into effect from the date of entry of the Amendment. Additionally, as considered as the dispatching and therefore, in case the operators of such applications or services wish to continue with the passenger transport procurement in compliance with legislation, they will have to fulfil the conditions for operation of the dispatching and adhere to related legal obligations, otherwise a fine may be imposed by the relevant authorities.

The Amendment also provides for an obligation of the taxi services operators to mark the taxi service vehicle with a sign containing the wording TAXI, whereas the sign may be a different colour, other than yellow.

The Supervisory Authorities

The competence of the Supervisory Authorities will broaden with respect to its competence to verify the identity of persons conducting activities governed by the Act on road transport and to require mainly documents, writings, information, data, explanations and statements in relation to the subject matter of the supervision and to found defects. Customs authorities will be also authorized to supervise the marking and equipment of the taxi service vehicle.

The Transport Manager

The Amendment will also change the provisions related to the transport manager in road transport. These changes are connected to the Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The road transport operator will have to appoint at least one transport manager connected to the company (for example an employee, owner, administrator). In the event that conditions set forward in the pertinent regulation are fulfilled, the transport manager may be also a person not truly connected to the company.

The Amendment was on 11.12.2018 signed by the president of the Slovak Republic and will come into effect as of 01.04.2019.