Press release no:7 - Fees set for digital tachograph cards

Regulations setting out the fees for issuing digital tachograph cards will be laid before Parliament on 11 May 2005.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will begin issuing the cards from the beginning of June, incrementally, starting with workshop and control cards. This is to ensure that vehicle units can be installed and calibrated and the enforcement infrastructure put in place prior to the issue of driver and company cards.

Further information will be published shortly giving details of the availability of application packs.

The fees were decided on following consultation with transport operators and the industry.

The fees are:

1. Tachographs are devices, fitted to certain commercial vehicles, which are used to record drivers’ activities, including driving time. Digital tachographs will record drivers’ activities electronically and store them in digital memory rather than on paper. These records will be used to enforce European drivers’ hours rules (EU Regulation 3820/85). The drivers' hours rules limit the length of time for which many commercial drivers can drive (and require them to observe minimum rest and break periods).

2. In order to be able to use a digital tachograph, a driver will have to purchase a smart card known as a "drivers' card". Whenever that driver uses a digital tachograph equipped vehicle, they will insert the drivers' card into the digital tachograph and the card will record the individual driver's activities. There are also three other types of tachograph card (company cards, control cards and workshop cards) that can be used for various purposes (e.g. to gain access to digital tachograph records).

3. On 23 March 2005, David Jamieson announced that the Government would have arrangements in place from the beginning of August 2005 to support the use of digital tachograph-equipped vehicles in Great Britain.

4. Under EU Regulation 2135/98, Member States are required to issue driver cards prior to the introduction of digital tachographs. DVLA and DVLNI have developed the systems and technology required to be able to issue cards, which has resulted in additional costs to both Agencies. In common with the principle already established for driver licensing and vehicle registration, the fee structure for digital tachograph cards aims to recover that expenditure through fees levied.

5. A consultation exercise regarding the introduction of the fee for digital tachograph cards ended on 15 February and a table of responses can be found on DVLA’s internet website http://www.dvla.gov.uk

6. Further information on digital tachographs can be found at www.digitaltachograph.gov.uk