Taxi-driver licences
The Act about the professional competence of taxi drivers (18 September 2009 / 695) came into effect on 1 January 2010. According to the Act, taxi drivers are expected to have the proficiency required for the task, and (s)he must be otherwise fit for the task. In order to achieve and maintain proficiency, the driver must complete the taxi-driver training and test as well as further training referred to in the Act.
Taxi-driver licences are issued by the police. The right to operate as a taxi driver begins when a taxi-driver licence is issued to the applicant.
A condition of awarding a taxi-driver licence is that:
- the applicant has a right to drive a car other than a temporary right obtained for two years or a car driving licence issued in another EEA state, and (s)he fulfils the detailed requirements, prescribed by Government decree, relating to the right-to-drive or driving licence specified;
- the applicant has not reached 70 years of age;
- the applicant fulfils the health requirements prescribed for driving-licence classes C and D;
- the applicant has completed the taxi drivers' training and test to an acceptable standard;
- the applicant has local knowledge of the area in which the car is located;
- the applicant is otherwise fit to be a taxi driver with regard to his/her personal qualities.
In assessing the taxi driver's personal qualities, his/her prerequisites to operate as a taxi driver shall be taken into account. The applicant shall not be regarded as fit to be a taxi driver if (s)he has committed a traffic offence or some other criminal offence prescribed in law, which indicate that (s)he is clearly unfit to work as a taxi driver.
The following must accompany an application for a taxi-driver licence:
- two photographs that fulfil the requirements for a passport photograph and that can be digitised (it is possible to use a photograph previously stored in the vehicular and driver data register from which the applicant can be easily recognised);
- a doctor's statement issued no more than six months earlier;
- a certificate for the local knowledge test performed no more than six months earlier.
The following must accompany an application to renew an existing taxi-driver licence:
- a certificate of further training
- a doctor's statement issued no more than six months earlier, if the applicant has reached 45 years of age.
- photographs as specified previously.
The taxi-driver licence shall be issued for a period of five years. The validity of the taxi-driver licence shall be extended for five years at a time, if the applicant fulfils the requirements for obtaining the licence and shows that (s)he has received further training. However, the taxi-driver licence shall remain in force for no longer than the period that the applicant's right-to-drive remains valid and not beyond the applicant's 70th birthday. The taxi-driver licence may incorporate various conditions.
The taxi-driver licence may show the car's location or those places of which the driver has local knowledge.
Information about taxi-driver training can be found on the Finnish Transport Safety Agency's website.
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