The Government approves a Bill with new sanctions on VTCs
The Government has approved a new control framework to avoid unfair competition to the taxi sector by Transport Vehicles with Driver.
Through a bill to modify the sanctioning regime for the VTC service, the Ministry of Transport wants to guarantee compliance with the operating conditions for this type of transport.
The bill aims to guarantee an adequate balance between the offer of VTC and taxi services and their competition, under equal conditions.
In the text, approved today, a complete review of the VTC sanctioning regime has been carried out, reinforcing it and adapting it to the characteristics of its activity to ensure its maximum effectiveness.
The Council of Ministers, in its meeting today, has approved a bill to modify the sanctioning regime of the vehicle leasing service with driver (VTC), in order to reinforce compliance with the operating conditions of this type of transport and guarantee fair competition with the taxi sector.
The approved project revises the current sanctioning framework included in the law for the regulation of land transport (LOTT), so that the severity of certain infractions is increased, among which the performance of the service without prior pre-contracting stands out, in addition to the provision of the service in a territorial area other than the one that corresponds or the breach of the rule of habituality, among other issues.
In addition to the above, the project typifies a new offense in relation to the breach of other conditions of the service, such as those relating to the service itinerary, the schedules and calendars for the provision of the service and the technical characteristics or adequate signaling of the vehicle provided for the regulatory framework.
In addition, in order to reinforce the effectiveness of the new sanctioning framework, the possibility of immobilizing the vehicle until the payment of very serious sanctions is established and even, ultimately, the possibility of revoking the authorization of VTC for the commission of 5 infractions of very serious nature in one year.
Fair competition
The Government modified the regulation of the leasing of vehicles with driver through Royal Decree-Law 13/2018, of September 28, to complete the regulation approved in April of that same year (Royal Decree-Law 3/2018, of April 20 ) which had proven insufficient to address the mobility, traffic congestion and environmental problems that the high increase in the supply of urban transport in tourism vehicles was causing in the main urban centers of our country.
Since then, a series of complementary actions have been carried out, such as the work related to the electronic registry of vehicle leasing services with driver or the work being carried out in the technical working group with the autonomous communities to share good practices and coordinate the different public policies and regulations that the administrations with competence in the matter intend to approve.
This bill is part of this set of actions, completing the new legal framework for the sector.
The Government approves a Bill with new sanctions on VTCs
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