Professional driver qualification
Legally prescribed further education for professional drivers
Every professional driver must receive further education in the form of five, day-long presentations, within 5 years of the last training. This is prescribed by the new professional driver qualification law (BKrFQG).
With this regulation, law-makers want to increase traffic safety, allow for economical driving and create joint education and training within the EU. Here, we explain the important changes and, as a recognised educational institution, we provide the legally prescribed further education – in open courses or in company-internal training courses.
Who is affected by the restructuring in the professional driver qualification law?
Drivers of vehicles with a permissible total weight of more than 3.5 tons of goods and drivers of vehicles with more than eight seats for passengers must have a driver's license and certification of special skills and knowledge. This is done in the form of a basic qualification (for beginners) and also through regular further education.
This applies
- since 10.09.2008 for bus drivers/all D-classes and
- as of 10.09.2009 for lorry drivers/all C-classes.
This affects all drivers who
- are German citizens,
- citizens of a member state of the European Union (EU) or citizens of another country that is a party to the agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) or
- citizens of a third state and are employed or engaged in a company that is headquartered in a member state of the EU or of the EEA.
What is the scope of the legally prescribed advanced further education?
The prescribed further education for professional drivers encompasses 35 hours of lessons at 60 minutes per lesson. These 35 mandatory hours are divided up into individual topic areas (modules). Each driver must provide certification that he has attended five day-long presentations, with at least 7 one-hour lessons per day in the last 5 years.
How practice-oriented is the instruction?
The contents of our further education modules are prescribed by law, but the course is not a boring mandatory programme. On the contrary: In presentations specially tailored for professional drivers, our experienced trainers teach the legal and technical specifications and numerous concrete tips and tools for daily work - in a practical and clearly understandable way. The focus is always on "the road as a safe workplace". The drivers are thus made aware of their role and are motivated to recognize their responsibility and to implement the knowledge they have gained in a positive and safe way.
Is there leeway (time-wise) for the prescribed further education sessions?
§ 5 paragraph 1 of the professional driver qualification law (BKrFQG) establishes that the first further education course must be concluded five years after the basic qualification is earned. For drivers who had a Class-D driver's license in their possession prior to the deadline of 10.09.2008, the first further education course must take place between 10.09.2008 and 10.09.2013. For holders of a Class-C license, the deadlines are one year later.
The dates may coincide as a result of the fact that the driver certifies his further education after the deadline of 10.09.2008 at the time of the first extension of the driver's license as per § 24 FeV (health test).
Example: A bus driver working for a commercial bus line or a school holds a Class-D driver's license. This was extended on 18.06.2007 by five years to 18.06.2012. If the driver produces the certification of the five-day further education at the time of this extension, the validity of the basic qualification to 18.06.2017 is also entered in column 12 of his driver's license.
What applies to new drivers?
Persons who do not earn their driving licence until after the above-mentioned deadlines also have to prove that they have the basic qualification for the driving licence. For them, the obligation for further education begins once this basic qualification is earned. Since the validity of the driver's license and that of the basic qualification are set at five years, different dates are generally not given to these drivers.
Our tip:
Have your professional driver further education courses financially subsidised and take advantage of the promotional programme of the Federal Office for Freight Traffic (BAG).
Other qualification offerings in the field of logistics
Please click on Logistics and you will receive further information on seminars and courses on this topic.
We will also come to you
You can benefit from in-house training courses which we will fine tune to meet your wishes.
Just contact us and we will be happy to put together a non-binding offer.
Subsidised training and further education
In the field of logistics we also offer publicly subsidised measures.
